The Love Boat
by TheElephantMaster
Summary: {Mafia!Romano X Reader} With Lovino flirting, Alfred joking and Francis teasing, this cruise vacation definitely has it all! How is this week of visiting plenty of cosmopolitan places across the Mediterranean going to end? Human AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Mafia!Romano X Reader ~ The Love Boat Ch.1**

A/N1: Yes, yes, the title is a joke.

A/N2: Usually, I write reader-inserts in first person singular because it always made more sense to me to read reader-inserts in "I". However, since this time there will be scenes where the reader isn't present, I've decided to use a narrator, so the story will be writen in third person singular, "She"

* * *

 **Lisbon (Portugal) → Casablanca (Morocco)**

The seagalls were flying around the ship while she abandonned the harbor of Lisbon. The young woman smiled and admired the rising behind the mountains of Portugal sun that was painting the skyline of the city in wonderful, sweet colours. This beautiful city had hosted them in a more than welcoming way and the people there were so friendly and positive, making the previous day even more amazing, as if vacationing with always cheerful and adventurous Alfred wasn't enough to make every moment enjoyable.

"It's a real pitty" she thought "that Ivan couldn't make it. But, his loss is my gain!" she smiled contently. The Russian boyfriend of her best friend would normally be the one travelling with Alfred on this cruise, but his week off was canceled at the very last minute: The other leader of the famous ballet theatre got injured and Ivan had to take his place for all the performancies. At least, he would be extra paid for this.

When he found out, Alfred got hugely bummed, but Ivan explained that the only other options were for him to either quit or be fired. Alfred whined and whailed for his to-be lost, pre-paid, week-long relax cruise and finally, announced to Ivan that he'd go anyway with a friend of his. Ivan smiled sweetly at the love of his life and replied that if Alfred dared to leave with a male friend then he could say goodbye to his boyfriend and also his life. They finally settled for Alfred inviting _, a very dear _female_ friend of both with the rule that she'd keep an eye on Alfred.

_ took a deep breath and allowed the cool, salty air to fill her lungs and wake up her brain. She hadn't slept very well this past weekend considering the fact that Alfred and she arrived to Lisbon – after a forever-long plane travel from New York – at six in the morning of Sunday and then, instead of going to the hotel to rest, Alfred had dragged her along all over the city claiming the remaining time "was not enough to see everything", resulting in going to bed at one and then getting up at five, to make sure they would catch the ship.

It was worth it, though. _ had multiple times seriously considered to strangle Alfred with her bare hands, but she had to admit he had taken time to be ready before arriving to the capital of Portugal and knew where was what and how to get there, resulting in the least possible tiredness.

"So, girlfriend, are you ready for the vacations of a life time?" Alfred cheered, snapping her out of her thoughts, and gave her a friendly hit on her back. "Oh, and do you think we'll finally get you laid?"

"Shut up, Alfred!" she replied, looking around her, terrified, to see if anyone had heard. Thank god, no-one had.

"It's not a big deal, girl! I'm not telling you to get a boyfriend asap; Get one whenever you're ready! But, until then, you don't have to just keep it there, collecting dust, you know?"

"Alfred, _shut up_!"

"Okay, okay. I'm just messing with you!" Alfred cackled. In reality, the American wasn't stupid; He was indeed messing with his friend and also had already checked that no-one was around when he first opened his mouth.

The duo settled their hands on the rails and enjoyed the changing scenery for a while.

The silence was broken by a grim Alfred. "I really miss Ivan. I wanna call him. I wonder what's the time over there." he said. "Do you think I'll wake him?"

"Well, it's almost eight here so it must be three in New York." the young woman replied, looking at the screen of her cell-phone. "Three in the morning" she clarified because she knew her friend wasn't good at this particular task.

Alfred visibly deflated.

"Alfred..." a worried _ turned to look at her friend. "Yesterday we did so many stuff and went all over Lisbon and I could see in your eyes that you weren't happy. You can't spend today like this as well! You need to stop feeling sad over Ivan not being here and enjoy this journey and have fun! Come on, let's go meet people and make friends!" she urged him.

Alfred grinned from one ear to the other. "Fuck yeah! So awesome! We'll form a big gang and we'll go sightsee EVERYTHING!", a moment of pause as his eyes suddenly flickered, "And we'll add them as friends on Facebook and they'll tag us on the pictures they'll upload! That'll show Ivan to have collegues that get injured! Stupid commie!"

_ laughted with her cheerie again friend and urged him to move along on the deck.

They soon reached a more crowded place on the wooden board. There were a few small parties and the young woman asked: "Who do you think will be the most interesting to meet, Alfred?"

"Girl, you do it wrong! We can't choose like that! We'll get to know everyone and _then_ decide!"

"What?! So, we'll just go from one party to the next?!" _ asked stressed all of a sudden. She liked meeting new people, but this sounded too scary.

"Yeah! It's gonna be so awesome, I'm telling ya!"

_ didn't answer. They looked at the various people for a while, trying to decide on which to start until suddenly, Alfred burst into laughter.

"What?" she inquired, intrigued now.

"Do you see that guy over there? The short, brunet one?" Alfred asked.

"No. Where?"

"Over there, to the left. The one talking to that sexy, blond guy" he helped.

"Alfred, remember that I'm here to keep an eye on you."

"Oh, come on! I can't even _look_?" the American pseudo-pouted and went on: "Anyway, the brunet looks exactly like a real' dangerous mafioso that goes by the code-name "Romano" ".

The young woman looked towards the place her friend was pointing descretely. She hummed unimpressed.

"They seem interesting. Let's go meet _them_!" Alfred grabbed _ by the arm and tried to pull her along.

But, she resisted. "No".

"Why?" Alfred almost whinned.

"First of all, the short grump is likely a mafioso and secondly, you only wanna meet them because of the sexy, blond guy. Be honest!"

"_, you know I won't cheat on Ivan, you know I really love him. But, there's no harm in getting to know people. Besides, as a policeman, I really wanna meet the one that looks like "Romano" " the American replied. "I wonder if he knows about it" he added as an after-thought.

"What if it _is_ him?"

"What the hell would he be doing on a week-long cruise? That's like asking to be arrested! It's not him!" the police expert said firmly. "Now, let's go." Alfred said and dragged _ over there.

They were noticed relatively quickly by the others. The short grump smirked at the young woman and the sexy blond smiled seductively at both of them.

The blond guy's smile made _'s heart flutter like a silly schoolgirl's, but the shorter one was exactly her type. She thought both of them were drop dead gorgeous and the brunet had the most stunning eyes she had ever seen, a very rare colour, amber.

"Hi! We're Alfred and _." the American introduced themselves and offered his hand for a handshake – towards the blond guy's side.

The young woman also offered her hand. "Hello!"

"Ohon hon hon" the blond laughed funnily. "Hello to you, too! I am Francis Bonnefoy" he said and shook Alfred's hand.

The shorter guy held _'s hand rather firmly. "And I'm Lovino Vargas. Nice to meet you, _" he said staring straight into her eyes. "And Alfred" he added as if he had just realized it would be very rude not to. In any case, he didn't offer Alfred his hand.

Alfred didn't even notice. Instead, he watched Francis bowing to kiss _'s knuckles. He would rather have the sexy blond pay more attention to him and acted accordingly: "Francis, your accent is... I bet you are from France!"

"Oh, mais oui! Parisien!" he answered in an effortless, definite french accent.

"Parisien, eh?" the American tried to immitate the Frenchman's accent and failed miserably. "This means specifically from Paris, right?"

"Right" Francis nodded.

"And Paris is in France, right?" a clueless Alfred asked with a goofy smile.

"Bien sure, it's the capital!" Francis informed him. "And you are American...?"

"Wow, you're good!"

Bonnefoy and Vargas looked momentarily at each other in a somewhat mocking manner. _ noticed it and felt uncomfortable for the whole scene and embarassed on behalf of everyone.

"So... you're travelling together?" _ asked in her effort to get to know these people.

"Oui, but in separate cabins" Francis answered and winked at her.

"Jesus Christ, Francis!" Lovino said, offended. "Of course in separate cabins! She just asked if we're travelling together, not if we're a couple. Don't give the wrong ideas to people!"

"Oh, yeah, I was just asking if you're friends or if you met here. I really didn't think you were together." she paused. "As in... "together" " she quoted "together" with her fingers in the air.

"See, stupid Frenchman? You made the bella ragazza feel uncomfortable"

"Oh no! Not at all!" she now turned to Francis. "Don't feel bad about it at all! I'm not unconfortable with gays!" _ cleared up. "I have plenty of gay friends!"

Hearing that information, Francis smiled at Alfred. "And are you two travelling together? But, as in... _separate_ cabins...?"

"Same cabin, but we're not a couple" the American readily answered, pointing his index finger up for emphasis.

Francis smirked. "Interesting..."

Alfred's eyes twinkled at the Frenchman and then, for the first time he turned to Lovino: "You know, I'm a policeman in New York. I'm in the department fighting organized crime – you know, the mafia – and you look A LOT like a worldwide known arch-mafioso who goes by the name "Romano". I mean, you totally look like him!"

Lovino stared at him for a second. Finally, he smiled. "I have a few police officer friends, they say the exact same thing..."

"Haha, I know right?" Alfred gave a random, short laugh. "Oh, I have an idea! I could use you as bait to capture that famous mafioso! It'd be so cool! I'd get a promotion asap and most likely a medal, too!" Alfred's blue eyes sparkled, staring somewhere far away. "Oh, you'd get something as a reward, too, I'm sure!" he added, too late to fix his mistake.

Lovino's laugh didn't reach his eyes. "It's funny: My friends in the police force also say that."

Alfred perked up excitedly. "We could all co-operate!"

"Come on, Alfred, stop it". The young woman had noticed a rather heavy atmosphere coming from the short, yet very attractive, grump.

"How do you know it's not me? That "Romano" guy?"

The joyful American smiled sympathetically. "Oh, it's SO obvious you are not him! It's SO obvious you have absolutely no relation to the organized crime whatsoever. I bet your job is completely irrelevant."

"That is true. I'm the chairman of an italian restaurants chain."

"Does that mean you're the owner?" Alfred inquired.

"Yes..." Lovino confirmed, nodding firmly once.

Alfred whistled impressed as Lovino smirked at _.

There was a pause and Lovino asked again: "You didn't tell me how you are so certain that that mafioso guy... is not me..."

"If you knew anything at all about the mafia, you would already know the answer"

The short grump scrantched his brows, tilting his head. He was genuinly curious.

Alfred gave an "american smile" and explained: "You don't wear the "ring of succession". All the heads of mafia families have one, you know, to show who's the boss"

"Seriously?!" Lovino was dumbfounded.

"Yes! It's not just a "Godfather" movie stupidity. It's really real!" Alfred answered. "It's actually quite well-known as a fact – the ring of succession thing. Whoever has watched this movie knows about it. Haven't you watched it?"

"Sometime in the past. We didn't think this was something that actually occurred." Francis interfered.

"Don't feel bad for it! I honestly didn't know either!" _ tried to comfort them – God, sometimes, Alfred was very thick. "But, Alfred is top at his job" she went on, doing a hand gesture that showed absolute certainty. "He's the right-hand man of the chief of the department fighting against organized crime. He thinks that such a basic principle for his job is known by everybody."

Lovino looked at his hands. "Well, in any case, I have no such thing" he said and showed off his fingers.

"And you, Francis? What do you do for a living?" the young woman asked, just in time to avoid another akward silence.

"I'm in the same field with mon ami, I'm the owner of a french restaurant in Rome. What about you, ma ch _é_ rie?"

"I'm an art conservator..." _ mumbled, feeling uncomfortable about her low-paying job.

"Oh! An art conservator! What an important profession!" Lovino told her admiringly with a big smile. "You are the "invisible artists" as I say: You contribute so much to culture, by preserving every piece of art, and yet, nobody pays any attention. Such a pity..." he shook his head in disapproval.

_ goggled her eyes at him. "Oh, my God! Yes!" she loudly exclaimed, unbelieving, and turned to Alfred: "Finally, someone gets it!". She then, looked at Lovino and gave him a big, grateful smile while placing both her hands over her heart. "Thank you! It's so nice to see there are people that apreciate our work!"

"Sure!" Lovino grinned and shrugged as if it was no need for her to thank him.

At that moment, Alfred looked at his watch and said: "Breakfast will start in a few minutes, and a hero like me-"

"A hero?" Francis abruptly cut him, perplexed.

"I'm in the police force: We save people's lives and kick bad guys' asses!" Alfred beamed proudly, fistpumping the air.

Francis raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"As I was saying, a hero like me has to eat well" Alfred loudly repeated, with his trademark, somewhat conceited tone. "Care to join us?"

"Non, merci" Francis politely denied the offer. "We woke up really early and we could use some more beauty sleep" he said.

"Francis," Lovino said exasperated and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second, "you make us sound so gay... Anyway, Francis is right, we have to go sleep, so that we'll be rested when we reach Casablanca."

"I sure hope we'll see you again!" the American said.

"It's a ship, Alfred, don't worry. We certainly will" _ told him, smiling.

"Ah, yes, right" her friend grinned. "Well, see you later!" he said and waved with one hand, while trying to drag the young woman along with the other.

"Yeah, sorry for leaving so abruptly, but when Alfred's hungry, there's nothing stoping him" she teased her friend.

"Sure!" he confirmed, shamelessly. "Do you thing there'll be burgers?"

"Let's just go" she replied and turned to her new friends and waved. "Bye!"

The duo smiled back – or maybe smirked? – and nodded a "good-bye".

As soon as Alfred and _ were far enough, the short grump inquired: "You think he's dangerous?"

"Non. I think he's an idiot."

"I'm not sure. Why the fuck did he say all those things? Maybe that was a bait to see our reaction."

"Wouldn't it be better if he had simply kept silent?" the blond asked.

"But, the bastard knows we can't harm him, dammit! If he suddenly disappeared, the police would swarm the ship and we wouldn't want that. I'm sure he can imagine he's perfectly safe for the whole fucking journey."

"Sure, but not anymore as soon as we reach Rome. If he knows anything, he would know he's dead the moment he steps on the harbor. And anyway, why expose himself just to see a brief, likely vague, reaction? Wouldn't it be more informative – and not to mention, much safer – to keep quiet and spy on us? The only thing he managed to do now, was to make us extra careful." Bonnefoy contradicted. "I'm telling you, he's just an idiot. And it makes me wonder... If _that's_ the second in charge in his against mafia police departement, how much more idiotic are his collegues?"

Vargas smiled. "It's true that our New York branch evolved quicker than anywhere else" he remembered. "Still, we need to keep an eye on him."

"Of course" the Frenchman said and signaled the closure of the subject by changing it: "Nice touch telling her that her job is important. It was exactly what she wanted to hear. I'm impressed!"

"Well, I learned from the best."

Bonnefoy gave a teasing, little laugh.

"I meant my nonno, bastard!"

* * *

After a little bitching for the lack of hamburgers for breakfast, the American and _ headed back to their cabin to sleep. They set an alarm to wake them up for lunch, but when the time came, they were both so tired, even gluttonous Alfred wasn't willing to get up for food. After an as short as possible discussion, the two friends just rolled on their other side and went back to sleep.

They woke up around four. According to schedule at that time the ship should be reaching the port of Casablanca. Alfred and _ washed the sleep off their face and got nicely dressed. By then, the ship had moored in the harbor of the city of Morocco and the two friends set off to sightsee the African city.

They didn't have much time in their hands, they would have to be back in the ship by nine, so for starters, they decided to visit the famous mosque of Hasan the II and if they had enough time, maybe walk a little along the coastal Boulevard de la Corniche.

It turned out it was very easy to get to the mosque: It was situated on the seaside, only a kilometer away from the port. The two friends decided to get to the tourist attraction on foot, since the weather was fine and traffic seemed hellish at the moment. The busy harbor and the famous mosque were connected by the coastal Boulevard Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah so, _ and Alfred started walking along it.

It was a pleasant stroll under the framing-the-highway palm trees with a beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean. Noumerous tourists and locals were enjoying the same promenade, giving the city a very lively tone.

Soon, the duo reached the mosque and felt their jaws drop. It was an extraordinary, stunning mosque with really high ceilings and filled with beautiful, obscure arabesques. It was built so close to the beach that its two sides were constantly licked by the waves.

While walking around inside it and admiring the elegance that surrounded them, they bumped on two familiar figures. Francis and Lovino instantly smiled at them and _ was glad to realize that they both seemed genuinly pleased to find them there.

"Enjoying your time out?" Vargas asked _.

"Yes, Alfred and I really needed to walk a little and we can in no way believe this place would be so nice!"

"Oh hon hon. I had trouble getting him out of his cabin" Francis said. "It took me a lot of time and effort to persuade him to join me and he was nagging all the way here, but I think _now_ , he is grateful I insisted."

Lovino wasn't any polite: "Shut it". Bonnefoy didn't seem to mind at all.

The young woman smiled widely at the two bitching in a manner that proved they had been friends for ages. "We just finished seeing the mosque, we were planning to go for a walk on the other side of the coast. Would you care to join us?"

"There's not much to see on Boulevard de la Corniche. It's more or less like the highway to get here. I have visited in the past, I know." Francis said. "Wouldn't you rather join us for dinner? There's a fine restaurant with traditional marocain cuisine pretty close. It has great critiques on a tourist guide". It seemed like Francis was using as many french words as possible when speaking in english. And they were always accented in french, too.

"I've never tasted moroccan hamburgers before!" Alfred joked. "We accept this awesome invitation!".

_ realized that a door of brand new tastes had opened in front of Alfred and that it would now be impossible to change his mind. "Okay, we'll join you!" she said nodding. "We'll wait for you outside. We have just finished touring the place."

"We have just finished as well, ma ch _ér_ ie" the frenchman told her. "We can move on at once with our plans."

"Nice, 'cause we're real' hungry, you know: We skipped lunch." Alfred informed.

"Aw, that's so misfortunate!" Bonnefoy exclaimed. "They had french cuisine served today. You would get to taste escargots!".

"You mean the snails? Ew!". Alfred's distraught face didn't need the expresion of disgust at the end of his sentence.

"He's just messing with you" Lovino spoke again. "The kitchen today served various tastes of hamburgers!"

"Aaaaawwwww!" Alfred pretended to wail, making the rest burst in laughter.

The little gang started walking towards the exit of the mosque and quickly after passing though it, broke into two smaller parties: Francis and Alfred were leading the way, while Lovino and _ were following them, only a few steps behind.

"So, _, tell me, you and Alfred are travelling alone, right? You don't have anymore friends travelling with you. Correct?"

"Yeap, just Alfie and me." she willingly answered.

"I take it you're single, then?" Lovino guessed. "I don't think any sane boyfriend would allow his girl, let alone one as beautiful as you, go on vacation without him."

"It's true, I'm single" _ confirmed. Seeing, though, how Alfred was treated by the flirtatious frenchman, she was worrying that either her best friend would get very tempted to cheat on her second best friend or that by the end of this cruise, Francis would be heartbroken. So, she made sure to add: "Alfred's taken, though".

"Hmmm" Lovino grunted, totally indifferent towards the latter information.

"And you? Do you have anyone important in your life?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, I've been alone for a while; business isn't allowing me the necessary free time: Last year, I couldn't even go on vacations" Lovino answered.

She decided to encourage him: "Aw, that's sad... But, on the bright side, it seems business is going well!"

"Hell, yes!" he bragged, grinning widely. "Business has been going greater than ever!"

"See? You just need a little time off work. Maybe by the end of this cruise you won't be single anymore!" she teased.

He looked at her intently and raised an eyebrow at her. "You have a feeling for that?".

"Mmmmmm, no" she teased again.

Lovino smirked knowingly. "You have a feeling for that" he nodded, now very assured.

_ thought that maybe she had gone a little too far and guided the topic of their conversation towards more safe waters. "And Francis? Is he single too?".

"Francis has been in a happy relationship for years".

She got confused. "But things aren't going well right now?".

"No, things are fine. Why would you think that?"

_ stated the obvious: "He's vacationing on his own."

"Ah, yes" Lovino agreed, now understanding. "Arthur wasn't given a leave" he shrugged, almost indifferently.

There was a pause and then, _ asked: "Okay, so Francis and you are travelling alone. No other friends of yours are with you, correct?"

"Yes, no other friends on board" Lovino replied. "Otherwise, they'd be with us, sightseeing."

_'s humming was interupted by Francis letting them know they had reached their destination. "We're here!" the frenchman announced out loud.

The place was cozy and nice, and didn't seem to be meant to attract families with children or couples that dated, but rather companies of friends, so it was perfect.

The menu was elaborate and in english – something that relieved everyone a whole lot – and since they didn't have the world's time in their hands, everyone made sure to order quickly.

As soon as the waiter left, _ was surprised to know that Francis had already found out about Alfred's relationship status: "Alfred, mon ami, how did Ivan and you meet?"

"Why would you care, Frenchie?"

"I just want to know if it was romantic! An American and a Russian breaking the barriers of mutual mistrust and falling in love!" Francis' blue eyes twinkled in excitement. "Ah, I bet it was very romantic!"

"Well... It kinda was..." the American replied.

Francis wanted to know more: "Really? Was it fatal?"

"FATAL?!" Alfred was shocked. "I think you mean "fateful"!"

"Ah, yes, right. Excusez-moi! My english, indeed, need improvement."

Alfred took a moment to think. "Sure, it deffinately was fateful."

"Alors, what happened?"

Alfred took a deep breath. This was going to take a while. "It was two years ago. At the time, we were dealing with a case of russian mafia – _very_ dangerous mobs. We had orders to check every Russian we would come along: You know, ask for their ID and residence permit. Back then, I hadn't yet taken my big promotion; I was a simple policeman wandering the streets on patrol. And one night, coming home from a movie, I saw Ivan. I have to tell you, dude, sometimes, he looks pretty scary and you would easily mistake him for a psycho killer – especially when he smiles – and that's what happened to me. I didn't get scared at all of course – heroes don't get scared; Yeah, I deffinately didn't – but when he smiled at me, I was certain he had to be at least as deranged as Stalin. And this way, I realized that that guy waiting at the bus top, smiling suspiciously at me, had intense slavic features". Alfred paused to take a few gulps of his zero coke that was just brought to the table along with the rest drinks. "Anyway, I asked for his papers, he asked me if I were a policeman, I said "yes", he didn't believe me... I didn't have my badge with me 'cause I wasn't on duty, so I couldn't prove I actually was a policeman and wasn't kidding around. I ended up considering him very suspicious since the very first thing he told me was to ask me if I were a cop and was denying showing his ID..."

"But," Francis cut him "the very first thing you told him was to show his papers. Of course he'd ask if you were a policeman".

"Yes, I know, but at that moment I was really scar... I mean, alarmed 'cause of that mafia gang plundering New York." Alfred replied. "I ended up calling the station to come pick the suspect up."

"And then, what happened?" the French asked.

"The station sent a car and I went along to see if my instict was right" Alfred told him. "Turns out, it wasn't. Ivan was a rising star, working for the "American Ballet Theatre" and had moved to New York from St. Petersburg only a few weeks before. We even called the ballet company to make sure, they confirmed it."

"Sorry," Lovino interupted, "your boyfriend is a ballet dancer? Did I get that well?"

"Yes" Alfred nodded.

Lovino brought his hand over his mouth, in a fruitless effort to hide his amused, silent chuckle. In any case, the American didn't seem to notice.

"And then?" an impatient Francis pressured, certain that now was the good part of the story.

"Then... After every misunderstading had been cleared up and Ivan called me an idiot, he asked me out."

"And...?" the frenchman was looking at Alfred, full of expectation.

"And I accepted".

Francis visibly deflated. " "Kinda romantic"?" he repeated Alfred's previous words. "Well, that was a disaster! Forget "fateful", that was "fatal" indeed!"

"It doesn't need to happen in rain or include candle-lit dinners to make a story romantic. You, French people, need to realize that at _some_ point!" Alfred scoffed. "And, anyway, it was definitely fateful: If we didn't have that russian mafia case at the time, I wouldn't have talked to Ivan."

"But, it appears _he_ would have talked to you" Francis smiled naughtily, eyes sparkling again.

Alfred looked at him, confused. "What?"

The frenchman instantly changed his mind. "Never mind" he said and turned to look at the waiter that was aproaching with a tray loaded with their dishes.

Moroccan cuisine turned out to be very spicy, tasty and colorful. _'s "kefta tagine" a kind of onion sauced meetballs made her stomach growl in pleasure. Thankfully, the music was loud enough to cover the inappropriate sounds.

Everybody seemed to enjoy their food even though they basicaly had to gobble it down because of the ticking time. Alfred was eating super fast and managed to balance out his lack of lunch by ordering dessert.

The small company of friends got up a little after eight and hastily made their way back to the ship. When they were safely on board and the ship was sailing away again, they decided to have a drink or two under the beautiful, starry sky. It was late when they, finally, said their "goodnights".

* * *

A/N:The role distribution of this fic is based on user XRC's comment under this YouTube video: watch?v=8sCDmasEAq8.

Since I don't have a YouTube account, could someone do me a favour and let the commenters in the thread know about this fic and give them the link, please?


	2. Chapter 2

**Mafia!Romano X Reader ~ The Love Boat Ch.2**

A/N: Since there's no official human name for Denmark, instead of "Mathias", I support the use of the name "Mark" simply because DenMARK. Besides, we already have an offical "Mat" (Poor Canada was forgotten again).

* * *

 **Casablanca (Morocco) → Malaga (Spain)**

Alfred and _ woke up rather late, but not too late to miss breakfast. They were feeling rather bored and decided to go eat at the restaurant closest to their cabin. They ate cereal with chocolate milk and _ laughed, because Alfred's blue eyes were shining in happiness behind his glasses, reminding her of a child.

During breakfast, while _ was refilling her plate with exotic fruits this time, Alfred tried to call Ivan, only to find he couldn't. "Damn phone doesn't have signal again!" he said. "Well, fuck you!" he spat, looking menacingly at its screen.

"Are you calling Ivan again?" _ asked as she sat back on her seat. "Thank God, there's no signal! You'll wake him up! It's late at night there."

"_, he won't care. We haven't managed to communicate at all since we sailed off from Lisbon; unfortunately, I forgot to call him yesterday." Alfred's face was all regret.

"It's okay, I'll remind you to call him as soon as we reach Malaga. I promise, it'll be the first thing we'll do!"

Alfred wasn't happy. "You know I'm gonna get yelled at for that"

"I know, but we'll explain to him that calling every now and then isn't easy. Most of the time we have no signal anyway: We're in the middle of the ocean!"

The American grunted annoyed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh, come on! Ivan doesn't trust you, but he trusts me! He'll believe _me_ " _ teased and raised her hand to feed her friend a big piece of kiwi.

Alfred leaned and ate it and with a mouth full of fruit, answered: "I'll just tell him that I'm trying to get you a boyfriend and that acting all matchmaker on you has got me extremely busy since you're, you know, so difficult."

"I'm not difficult just because I want someone that actually respects me. You know, _not_ a douchebag?"

"I hear ya, sista!" Alfred nodded. "I, too, have enough experience on douchebag boyfriends. And that's why I need to call Ivan as soon as possible."

_ rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

After they finished breakfast, the two friends got up from the table and decided to take a walk on the deck. The weather was lovely, the blue of the sea was crystal clear and inviting. The blinding light of the sun was shimmering on the waves, interrupted only by the seagulls flying by.

_ could feel the harmony that surrounded her. "Beautiful, eh?" she smiled to herself and tilted her head enough to let it rest on her friend's shoulder.

Alfred, completely dazed by the scenery in front of them, also allowed his head to rest on _'s. They stayed like this, enjoying the unique spectacle, lost in their own thoughts.

After a while, _ stood straight again and looked around. She then, turned to Alfred. "I think I'm ready now" she said and lightly pulled him to the closest seats for them to rest.

Alfred scrunched his eyebrows and looked at her. "Ready for what?"

"We were talking about douchebags before and I was referring to someone in particular..."

"Yeah, I got that" the American replied. "He's not Voldermort, you know, to keep avoiding saying his name"

_ was determined to end the previous chapter of her life. "Thomas" she said and repeated: "I think I'm ready now. I'm ready to move on"

Alfred smirked. "I think this has a little something to do with this cruise and a certain someone we met on this ship."

"No!" _ instantly denied it. Seeing Alfred's mocking face she corrected herself: "Maybe..." she confessed and then, "Oh, I don't know!" she, finally, gave up, frustrated. "He's really attractive and has managed to take my mind off things" she admitted. "But, does this mean I like him already? I've only known him for a day."

"If not, he's definitely on the right track" Alfred replied and wiggled his eyebrows.

_ sighed. "I still have my doubts. Let's face it, it's only gonna end with me heartbroken as always." She turned to look at the sea again. "And, okay, let's assume that everything goes perfectly. Then what? He lives in Rome."

"So what? Another love will come along and you'll forget him. Are you really going to say "no" to this brand new chance and rather stay heartbroken over "Thomas the Douchebag"?"

"Hell to the no!". The words were out of her mouth before she could even realize it. She, then, smiled to herself, now fully sure that her doubts were only in her mind, but not in her heart.

"Okay, I guess we have a winner!" Alfred cackled and patted her back vigorously. "You go, girl!"

They kept sitting there for a while, enjoying the view, making fun of each other and alternately bringing snacks from the closest bar.

When they started crossing Gibraltar, _ had an idea. "Try calling Ivan! We must have signal now!" she urged her friend.

Alfred took out his phone and, indeed, he saw that he could, finally, make a call. "What's the time there? Here is almost twelve."

"It's either minus six or minus seven hours, I'm not sure. So, it's either... six or five in the morning!"

"Good enough, I'll call him" Alfred said, but he had already dialed the number and was already holding his cell against his ear.

A few seconds passed and Alfred exclaimed: "Hey, baby! Do you miss me?"

At that moment, _ told Alfred to say hello to Ivan on her behalf and then, got up and walked a little further, allowing her friend his needed privacy. She looked around trying to spot her new friends, but couldn't find them. Instead, she saw two blond men talking to each other.

The one was really tall and had wild hair and was laughing so heartily, _ could hear his laughter from where she was standing. The other was of average height and had a peculiar object on his straight, simpler hair. She couldn't pinpoint what it was because she was too far to see clearly, and curiosity got the best of her.

The more she was narrowing down the distance that separated her from them, the more she realized that those two men were too attractive to not try to get to know them. 'Damn, this cruise boat is loaded with hunks!' she thought.

She decided to just go and introduce herself. Right at that second, they weren't talking; the tall guy's laughter was still dying out and the shorter one was staring at the horizon so, this was a fine opportunity for her to just jump in in their conversation.

_ walked up to them and stack out her hand. "Hello! I'm _" she said, smiling cutely.

"Hey, how are you?" the taller one replied and shook her hand energetically. "I'm Mark and this is my husband, Lukas" he said, gesturing towards the other man with his other hand. "Do you enjoy this journey?".

'So much for the hunks...' _ thought, disappointed, 'Maybe it's Fate's sign to tell me to focus on Lovino; All roads lead to Rome'

"Hello" Lukas simply said.

_ took the opportunity to look at the weird cross on his hair. 'It's a freaking barrette!' she thought astonished. 'Why on earth would he wear such a girly thing while he wears a suit?!'

While _ was thinking this, she was also answering Mark's question; she was good at multi-tasking. "Yes, I enjoy it a lot! I've never been on a cruise before, and I never thought it would be so nice!"

"Really? Your first? Haha!" Mark laughed randomly. "Lukas and I are always spending a few days of our summer vacations cruising. It's kind of a tradition. Last year it was the Carribean – Cuba is so beautiful! –, the year before was the Medditeranean Sea again – Greek islands this time –, the year before was... What was it...?" Mark was smiling broadly and nothing on his face could betray that in reality he was making an effort to remember something.

"_ isn't interested in all that, Mark. You're making a fool of yourself again"

Lukas' rude remark wasn't given any attention by his husband. "Ah, yes! We made the tour of Madagascar!"

At that moment, a cell phone started ringing. Lukas touched his barrette and... "Hello?… Emil, is that you?" he asked the air and turned to leave with the most bland "If you'll excuse me" _ had ever heard in her life. "Emil, I'm sorry, I can't hear you very well: There's static". As he walked away, Lukas' words were scattered by the wind and quickly ceased to reach the two.

"Wow! That's a lot of cruising! It's sounds so nice to have such a tradition with your partner! I envy you!"

"Yes! It is!" he answered, excited. "And, pssst," Mark lowered his voice and placed his hand vertically to his skin, next to his mouth in a conspirational way, "on cruises the booze is always free!"

_ laughed light-heartedly. "And how did this tradition start if I may ask?"

"Well, I'm from Denmark, Lukas from Norway, but we both live and work in the UK. When we started making plans for our first summer vacation, we couldn't decide where to go 'cause we both missed our countries. So in the end, Lukas said that instead, we should go on a cruise of the North Sea. That way we could visit both Copenhagen and Oslo" he said. "We managed to see our families, without, you know, overdo it". Mark's wide-eyed expression was screaming "terrifying in-laws" during his last words.

_ laughed again, out loud. Mark was so funny and cute! In a way, he reminded her of Alfred. Mark was as cheerful and as sure of himself, if not more. 'Those two would get along perfectly!' she thought.

She hoped her American friend would come join them and get to meet this awesome – as Alfred would definitely say – guy, but he wouldn't appear. He must have still been on the phone. Ultimately, the conversation came to an end, and _, with a polite excuse, left Mark who, in turn, went in search of his husband.

She found Alfred on the same spot she had left him, still talking to Ivan and trying to delay the inevitable "goodbye" as much as possible. She smiled and patiently waited for the American to hung up to ask him, as the loyal friend she was, what had happened. Turned out, Ivan hadn't yelled at Alfred after all.

"How is he?" she asked.

"He's well. Said he misses me a lot."

_ rubbed her friend's arm in an effort to comfort him. "I'm sorry, Alfie."

"No, it's alright." the American said, smiling widely now. "I'm glad I got to talk to him. I told him I'll call again as soon as we reach Malaga."

"I heard" she nodded.

Alfred mimicked Ivan's thick russian accent and grammar mistakes: "You enjoy trip and I want all detail when you be back. Take lot of photos and try all food". The American, then, burst in laughter and _ laughed along with him, not so much by the, truth be told, hilarious interpretation of Ivan, but rather by seeing her friend's eyes twinkle in happiness again.

When suddenly, Alfred's stomach protested, loudly enough to be heard above the sound of the waves, reminding them that it was lunch time. "Oops! Sorry for that!"

_ excused her friend simply by grinning.

"Okay," the American asked, "so to which restaurant should we go now?"

"We've seen the two out of the three restaurants there are on the ship. Let's go to the one we haven't honored with our presence yet" she teased.

"Aren't they supposed to serve different stuff so that people can choose what to eat?"

"Yes, but the program changes every day and I can't remember which kitchen serves what" _ replied. "I think egyptian is one of the cuisines that will be served today, but I'm not sure."

Alfred didn't care; He ate almost everything. "Whatever. Let's have the kitchen surprise us!"

So, they headed to the only still-remaining-a-mystery restaurant which turned out to be the most spacious of the three. Soon, the two friends were sitting opposite each other, looking at the menus and being so focused on trying to decide what to order that they didn't notice the two figures that approached them or the shadows that were hovering over them.

"May we join you, bella?"

The familiar, gruff voice made _ snap her head up. She beamed at him and Lovino didn't need a verbal answer to know that he was welcomed. He sat beside her.

Francis took the seat opposite Lovino, next to Alfred. "Salut mes amis!" he said. "Did you have a nice sleep last night? I hope you are well-rested!"

"Yes, thankfully." _ answered.

"We needed to rest so that we'd be ready for today!" Alfred added.

"Do you have any particular plans?" the Italian asked, looking straight at the only woman sitting at the table, while blindly turning the pages of his menu.

_ smiled, flattered. "Well, we want to visit Malaga. There aren't any major tourist attractions, but our guide book says it's a very nice place to go for a stroll."

"It's true!" Lovino said. "I've been here not long ago."

"What?! You've been in Malaga before? Yesterday, Francis had visited Casablanca in the past and now, you?" _ complained. "Oh, man," she turned to Alfred, "this sucks!"

"Hon hon hon" Bonnefoy laughed.

"How many countries have you visited anyway?" the young woman asked the Frenchman, mildly annoyed.

"Moi?" Francis was taken aback for a second, but quickly recovered. "In Europe I would say almost all."

_ didn't repeat the question, she just turned to pointedly look at the Italian.

"Same" he said.

Alfred raised his eyebrows astonished, not so much by Lovino's answer, but rather by the apparent boredom it carried. "How is this even possible?" the American asked, looking at Lovino. "You're kidding us, aren't you?"

"Well, travelling across Europe is a piece of cake" Bonnefoy interfered. "Our continent is vraiment petit, the whole of Europe covers almost the same area as the USA alone. And our jobs also require us to travel a lot."

The conversation was halted for a while, for as long as the waiter needed to take the orders and leave their table.

"So..." Lovino started talking again, again looking straight at the young woman. "We have the same plans as you: See the city and maybe go for a coffee" he said. "I believe that _you would be interested_ in joining us..."

The double meaning in his last phrase didn't escape _. "Yes, we are!" she answered with a smirk.

"Perfect!" Lovino smiled.

"So, how long ago has it been since you were in Malaga?" she inquired.

"Well, it's been some time... Two, maybe three years... But, I remember it well enough to show you around."

"We are very lucky, Alfred!" _ turned to her American friend. "We are in the best company of friends available!"

"How so?"

"It's the one with the tourist guides!"

The men laughed light-heartedly at _'s joke.

There was a pause and Alfred couldn't help but ask: "How did you decide to travel on this cruise with a couple? I mean, okay, Arthur isn't here, but if he were, it would seem weird, a single man travelling with a friendly couple". He turned to his friend, looking for her to back him up. "It sounds weird, doesn't it, _?"

"It kinda does, actually" she said skeptically.

Francis spoke. "I think it looks weirder now, that Arthur couldn't make it. A single person travelling with a taken friend, but without their significant half. Exactly like you are."

"Yes, but I wouldn't be here if Ivan's co-worker hadn't got injured" _ argued.

"True, but Lovino and I aren't sleeping in the same cabin" Francis insisted, calmly.

Alfred saw the waiter with their food closing in on them and hurried to give up. "Point taken" he said.

The plates were brought to their table. The aroma was tickling their noses and the American immediately jumped at his food.

_ noticed that Francis was generally behaving like he was a nobleman and eating time was no different. He was using the knife and fork with such comfort, almost elegance. This image greatly contrasted the image of Alfred who was eating like there was no tomorrow. She was glad, she realized, they were both taken; these two could in no way be a good match.

She tried to picture Francis' boyfriend. The only other clue she had was his name. 'How would Arthur look like?' she wondered.

No matter her trying, the only thing she could come up with was that Arthur wasn't a french name – so, maybe he was an Englishman? – and that he must be even the tiniest bit elegant for Francis to be interested in him. But, not more elegant than Francis, that would be impossible.

Curiosity got the better of her and she couldn't help but ask Francis: "How did you and Arthur meet, if I may ask?"

Francis smiled adoringly at the memory that flashed in front of his blue eyes. "At the time, Arthur was working as a journalist for a british, food-of-Europe-themed magazine. He traveled across Italy and wrote articles about various restaurants. He basically wrote about their atmosphere, quality of service, collection of wine... Published critiques about their kitchens-"

"Wait!" Lovino cut him, his eyes wide in terror. "He published _critiques_ too?! With what criteria did he express his opinion?! _That_ was reason he got fired, wasn't it?"

Francis smiled again, with amusement this time. "No, he didn't get fired because of that; he only _published_ the critiques, he didn't write them. The critiques were always made by _critics_ , thank God!"

"Thank God!" Lovino agreed, loudly. "Because _nothing_ else could ever make sense!" he added.

The Frenchman nodded at his friend, laughing his signature laughter.

_ swallowed her chewed bite and asked the Italian: "Why do you say that?"

"Whatever you do in your life, bella, don't ever, _ever_ try Arthur's food!" Lovino advised very seriously and turned to Francis: "How can your boyfriend be _that_ useless that he managed to burn pasta? Just by remembering that, it makes me wanna vomit. We shouldn't be talking about Arthur's food while we eat in the first place!" Lovino complained and pushed his plate away.

Alfred raised his head and spoke for the first time after a long while. "You not gonna eat that?"

Lovino annoyedly crossed his arms over his chest and tsked. This was a good enough answer for Alfred to lunge at the plate and empty its contents inside his.

"So, as I was saying, Arthur was assigned to write an article about my restaurant. He had to interview the chef and a few clients and me. And that's how we met. It was love at first sight!". Francis, against proper manners, brought both elbows on the table, intertwined his fingers and rested his head on his clasped hands with a big smile.

"Sounds like a lovely story!" _ said with admiration and a pang of jealousy. "I wish I'll have a story as nice to tell my kids someday!"

The Frenchman's eyes flickered to the one sitting beside her for a fraction of a moment. "Mon amie, I am certain you will!" he grinned.

_ thanked her new friend and after a pause, she told him: "I'm sorry Arthur got fired."

"Oh, it's okay, it was a long time ago" Francis replied. "He now has a better job. It suits him better, too!"

"Does he work for another gourmet magazine?" she asked. "A food-of-Britain-themed one?"

"Oh, mon Dieu, non!" Francis' eyes widened in terror. "He is now a crime journalist for a very high-esteemed newspaper of Rome. He writes about anything that could be related to the italian mafia."

"Sounds very interesting!" she nodded, smiling.

By now, _ and Alfred had emptied their plates and Francis signaled he too, was done eating by taking his napkin off his lap and placing it on the table. The four friends got up and headed to their cabins.

Before they got separated, they made plans for later: "Now, according to schedule we'll arrive at Malaga in about an hour, so we better get ready for our little sortie" Francis said. "Let's meet at the basic deck in front of the escalator in an hour. Oui?"

"Yes, sure!" Alfred and _ answered simultaneously.

"Parfait!"

* * *

According to plan, the small, newly-formed gang met at the top of the escalator that led down, to the exit. The four friends, among many other passengers, descended it and headed to the exit of the harbor.

As was usual for ports, surrounding it and parallel to the coast was an avenue, the "Paseo de los Curas". On its other side, was a park with predominantly palm trees. Following this boulevard, they quickly reached a crossroad and took the turn and found themselves on "Calle Molina Lario" street that lead directly to the old town.

The first thing they found was the "Museo Catedralicio" which basically was an imposing Renaissance church. They kept on walking and took a big stroll around the quaint historical centre, admiring the well-preserved, beautiful, old buildings.

At a point, they passed in front of a flower shop and Lovino stepped inside. He came back out with a smirk on his face and a pink rose in his hand. "For you, bella" he offered _ the flower with a wink.

After they had wandered around, they decided to head back and started walking down the "Calle Molina Lario" street again, but this time, towards the opposite direction. Their goal this time was to enter the park and walk on "Paseo Parque" road. Even though, this road was crossing through the park, it still was wide enough for cars to use, so the little company of friends was careful and limited themselves on the pavements that were meant for the walkers.

The weather was nice, the sunlight was warm and as _ raised her head to admire the clear blue sky, a green parrot flew over her. "Look! A parrot!" she exclaimed, pointing at it.

Her shout caused a commotion in the branches of the trees next to them and a swarm of parrots now popped, following the previous one.

"Ah, yes," Lovino said in a monotonous tone. "I had forgotten about that."

"Are we in the tropicals?" a dumbfounded Alfred asked.

_ was astonished. "Why are there parrots here?!"

"They're not wild parrots; They weren't here some years ago. They are either captives who escaped or their descendants. We have parrots in a few parks in Rome, too."

"And there is a big park with parrots in Paris!" Francis added. "Many big cities have parrots!"

"How is it possible?" _ asked. "Just from a handful of birds we get a whole colony?"

"It's the warm environment and the lack of natural enemies. I've also heard that only a pair of birds is enough to create a colony, if conditions permit it" Francis answered and concluded: "They must really like sex!"

_ didn't know what to say. "Ugh..."

Lovino didn't bother to say something to the Frenchman. He just sighed.

They kept on walking and quickly found themselves at a roundabout. At the other side, a big arena was built, indicating the end of the park.

"Wow! That's the arena where all those cool bullfightings take place!" Alfred exclaimed. "Let's go!" he said and broadened his steps.

_ thought she didn't wanna visit this place and also, she hoped to have a little alone time with Lovino. "Wait, Alfred!" she shouted at his back. "I don't really wanna see that!"

Alfred turned around. "Whaaaaaaaaat?" he whined. "You are here right now and you say you don't wanna? You may never come in Malaga again!"

"Well..." _ hesitated for a second, but then she decided to not go and to be firm about it. "I said "no". Stop using this as an excuse to drag me everywhere, even to places I don't want to go!" she protested. "You can go if you want, but I don't need to come along for you to enjoy it! I'm tired and I'd rather sit and rest. There is a bunch of cafes right over there" _ pointed to the side of the arena, "where I can sit. You can go!" she said and, turning to look at everyone, added: "All of you!"

"You know what? I'll stay with you" Lovino told her. "I've visited the arena before, there's nothing I'd like to see again. What will you do, Francis?"

"A hon hon hon" the Frenchman laughed in a knowing way. "I'll visit the arena of course!" he answered and winked at his friend.

"Yeah, well, then you better start moving 'cause the arena is open only during daylight" the Italian said and did an irritated, dismissive gesture. "You don't wanna end up locked in!"

"We don't" Francis replied. "Do you?"

Lovino was pretty annoyed now. " _Go!_ "

"A hon hon hon" the Frenchman's laughter was heard as he left to catch up with Alfred.

_ chuckled at Francis' shenanigans and circled her palm around still quite angered Lovino's arm to lead him towards the cafes.

They chose a modern, lounge cafe and after they sat at a table that overlooked the roundabout so that they'd see the others when they returned, they ordered.

"Soooo, what's up with you and Francis exactly? I just can't see you two become friends. How did it happen?" _ asked.

Lovino chuckled. "Francis is actually my cousin"

"What?! Really?"

"Yes, my father and his mother were brother and sister."

"Wow! I wasn't expecting that." _ said.

"He came to Italy when he was 13 and he's still speaking italian with a fucking french accent" Lovino shook his head in disapproval.

_ giggled. "You love him, though."

"WHAT?! No!"

_ wore an amused smirk and raised a challenging eyebrow.

Lovino compromised with admitting that the Frenchman was an important person in his life. "Well... he was more like a brother than a cousin" he said. "Like the older brother I never had..." he added, thoughtfully. And, then, Lovino raised an index finger and widened his eyes. "But, don't tell him that!" he warned her.

_ smiled, inviting him to go on and he did: "He has great intuition and always knows when a person lies or the motives behind their actions. He's so good at reading people, it's scary."

"Really?" _ asked without really waiting an answer. "Hmmm!"

"Yes, he taught me everything I know as far as relations with other people are concerned. When I was little, I wasn't very popular, but then, Francis' family moved in Rome and he helped me gain confidence" he admitted. "He would hang out with me and my brother and would make new friends every day and... Well, you get what happened."

"You met new people and made friends through Francis" _ finished Lovino's story.

He nodded with a bit of discomfort. "Yes"

"Did he teach you how to read people too?"

Lovino smiled politely. "No, that's a talent you either have or not" he said. "But, because we are close, he always helps me and advises me over everything. He's like a personal consultant."

"Sounds like a cool cousin! Wow!"

The Italian smiled once more and sipped on his cappuccino.

_ couldn't help teasing her love interest. "Does Francis help you and advise you with women as well?"

"WHAT?! No!" Lovino protested the exact same way again.

_ laughed out loud. She wasn't buying it.

"Look, bella, Francis has proven he can get anyone he wants, but this doesn't mean I ever needed his help to get women" he told her seriously, almost offended. "I'm Italian and attractive! What more do I need?"

_ was still not believing him, but agreed: "Okay, okay, I understand. You're Italian, flirty and hot. No need to complain!" she said, smiling amused, and lightly touched his thigh, close to his knee, in a "please, pardon me" way. And then, remembering what she had just heard, she tilted her head and changed the subject: "Why did you say that Francis has proven he can get anyone he wants?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Because of Arthur. If he managed to get Arthur, he can get anyone"

Lovino's laconic answer was not good enough for _. "Details, please!"

"Do you remember how they met? Well, it wasn't as nice and fairytale-like as it sounded!" he said. "Francis, as he always does, hit on Arthur the second he saw him and Arthur got all flustered and kept calling him a frog and a wanker. After Arthur for countless times denied to go out with him and managed to go through with the interview, he left the restaurant and Francis, getting totally paranoid, started searching on the internet to find his office address. Turned out, there was no office, since he was working for a british magazine and he was the only reporter of the magazine in Rome. So, he worked from home". Lovino paused to drink a little water.

_ was impatient. "How did he find him?"

"I was just getting there!" he protested. "He sent an e-mail to the magazine asking for Arthur's telephone number. They replied that they couldn't give such information, but they could give him Arthur's e-mail address. So, Francis started sending him e-mails and, even though he never got a reply, kept sending, when suddenly, after a month or so, Arthur, finally, responded, but with threats of a law-suit for sexual harassment."

"Dear God!" _ was unbelieving. "And they managed to get together after that?!" she asked. "Why would Francis want to go out with him in the first place after this?"

"Indeed, no-one knows why Francis was so head over heels for Arthur that even _this_ didn't stop him from sending more e-mails. Arthur replied by only asking Francis' address, so that his lawyer would know where to send the indictment."

_ brought her palm over mouth, shocked. "Oh, my God!"

The Italian went on: "Francis wrote him the address-"

"Shit!" _ cut him.

"Yes..." Lovino nodded in understanding and continued: "Francis wrote him the address, even though by now, he was fully doubting himself. So, he started waiting for the postman, sure he'd end up in prison, but the indictment wasn't coming. Instead, he received a big bouquet of white roses and an "I'm sorry" card."

_'s jaw dropped. "What?"

Lovino just shook his head in an "I don't wanna live on this planet anymore" way.

"Well, at least he didn't get in jail..." she said.

"To be honest, I think jail would be better."

_ cringed, but couldn't disagree. "And now?" she asked. "What's happening now?"

"Now, Arthur keeps calling him a frog and a wanker, but somehow Francis is happier than ever. Like, what the fuck? Apart from that, Francis seems like a sane person."

_ smiled. In the end, Francis' persistence and faith gave him what he wanted. Whatever that was...

"Speak of the devil..." Lovino nodded towards the street.

_ saw Francis and Alfred approach the roundabout and said: "We should pay"

"Allow me" the Italian said and took out his wallet.

"No, each pays their own!" _ protested.

"Forget it. It's on me, bella" he said and winked.

As Lovino was taking out some cash, _ got up to stretch and looked around inside the cafe. She noticed that it was rather empty and the only clients were all couples with the exception of a silent, of Asian descent – Japanese? – man whom she wasn't aware of up until that point because he was sitting behind her. She felt like she had seen him before, but where? What was most weird about him was the fact that he had eaten his ice-cream and now, he wasn't reading a book or doing something; he was just sitting there. She shrugged it off, though, and circled her arm around the Italian's who by now had stood up as well and was ready to leave.

_ and Lovino met up with Francis and Alfred at the roundabout and all decided to go back to the ship, but following a different route: This time, instead of going back down the "Paseo Parque", they headed down "Paseo de la Farola", another street that commenced at the roundabout, that had an extension of the park on its right side.

Soon, they found themselves in front of a clearing where in the middle of it stood the Pompidou Centre of Malaga and they were instantly impressed by its structure; It was a cubic, all-glass building, and its plane surfaces were stained with coloured squares. It looked like a gigantic, transparent Rubik's cube.

They approached it. As the sun was going down behind the building, it created long, colourful shadows and standing in them, made the atmosphere feel unworldly.

Francis and Alfred walked to the other side and as _ was about to follow them, she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. When she turned around, she found that Lovino was close to her, too close, and he kissed her.

The kiss was sweet and chaste and tasted like cappuccino. When they broke apart, the couple just stood there, looking at each other for a while. Finally, _ smiled at him and curled her hand around the fabric of Lovino's shirt, pulling him lightly to follow her to the other side of the structure. Alfred and Francis were already walking towards the interior of the park in order to cross it and the newly made couple followed them in silence.

The four friends quickly reached the end of the park and found themselves back in the port. The ship was only a hundred meters away, getting ready for her departure.

* * *

A/N:The role distribution of this fic is based on user XRC's comment under this YouTube video: watch?v=8sCDmasEAq8.

Since I don't have a YouTube account, could someone do me a favour and let the commenters in the thread know about this fic and give them the link, please?


	3. Chapter 3

**Mafia!Romano X Reader ~ The Love Boat Ch.3**

 **Malaga (Spain) → Ibiza (Spain)**

As was planned from the previous day, the four friends all met on the main deck and headed towards the closest restaurant of the ship to get breakfast. As was rather a tradition already, they split in two, Francis and Alfred leading the way and _ and Lovino following.

"You look gorgeous as ever!" Lovino told her and winked.

_ smiled and kissed him, snaking her arms around his neck. The kiss was long and slow, and sealed that what had happened yesterday was not an accident.

When they broke apart, _ was glad to see that neither the American nor the Frenchman had noticed something.

The four friends sat at a table close to a window to overlook the sea and soon, a waitress came to take their order. As she left, she revealed a person sitting alone at a table diagonally to them. _ wasn't surprised to see the Japanese man from the day before: She thought that the reason he had felt familiar was because he was a passenger on the cruise ship.

It took only a few minutes for the waitress to come back with their orders and _'s mouth watered at the sight and smell of her omelet. She got down on eating, trying to contribute as normal as ever to the conversation, so as to not let the rest become aware of the fact that she and Lovino, who was sitting next to her, were playing with their legs under the table.

It was at a moment like this, with a smirk forcing its way to her face, that Lukas and Mark would have passed by their table if Mark hadn't stopped. "Hey! Lukas, look! It's _!" the Danish man's booming voice was heard. "How are you, _? You look gorgeous as ever!" he said loudly and opened his hands for a hug.

"And you look awesome as ever!" _ returned his compliment and got up and hugged him tightly, grinning.

An italian accented "Tsk" was barely heard because of Mark's loud laughter.

_ released Mark, but still keeping her palm on his shoulder, she asked the Norwegian: "And how are you, Lukas?"

"I'm well, thank you" he replied blandly. And clutching Mark by his lapel, added in the same tone: "Buffoon. Stop annoying people" and dragged him away.

_ sat back down, smiling widely, and was about to proceed with her lovely omelet, when Alfred asked her: "Yo, _, who was that?"

_ had already decided to take shameless advantage of the situation. Holding her fork in the air, she replied, grinning, "Oh, it's no-one" and took her bite, signaling the end of the subject.

There was a small, awkward pause, with questionmarks hanging in the air, until Francis decided to cut it by changing the subject. "So," the Frenchman asked Alfred, turning to look at him, "how did you decide to become a police officer?"

"How did you two decide to become restaurant owners?" Alfred asked back, pointing his index finger back and forth at the two cousins.

"We didn't get to decide" the Italian answered. "Our family was in the business and it was expected from us to take up from where they left off when they retired."

"So, you just inherited the business..."

"Oui" Francis confirmed. "But, how about you?"

"Well..." Alfred took a moment to gather his thoughts. "When I was a child, I would always look up to my mother who was a firefighter; she was a real hero, she had gained a medal for her bravery!" he said, smiling. "So, I wanted to be as useful, as honorable; make my mother proud! My mom has passed away, but I still feel pride in saving people and making society better by capturing bad guys. I'm so happy when I get to see the innocent people's smiles when they reconnect with their families or when they're told they are now safe."

"Such noble causes!" Francis admired. "You are a respectable man, mon ami!"

Alfred smiled honestly at the Franchman and his blue eyes twinkled brightly behind his glasses.

"And you, bella?" Lovino grinned. "Did you choose to become an art conservator?"

_ hummed thoughtfully. "Not really..."

The Italian scrunched his eyebrows and tilted his head. "But you are so proud of your job..." he told her. "And you've every right to be!"

"Indeed, I am!" she said and went on: "But, when I was younger, what I really wanted was to become an artist – a painter to be precise – but, my parents told me to go for an actual job that pays. Looking back at my attempts, I realized it was their way of telling me I have no talent in this. It's true; I just don't have it. I was choosing art constantly, but art hadn't ever chosen me" she shrugged. "I'm very happy, though. Okay, I may not be a painter, but I'm still surrounded by art and live my life in art everyday. Being an art conservator is like being an artist. The only difference is that you don't need particular talent."

The Italian held _'s hand, "I find it hard to believe that those fingers have no talent" he said and cupped it with his.

"Well, not in painting anyway..."

"And what are these pretty hands talented in?" Lovino asked.

_ wondered if that was an innuendo, but decided it wasn't. She smiled. "Cooking..."

"Oh, that's good!" Lovino cut her, grinning. "That's _very_ good!"

"And... gardening, I guess. It seems that when I plant something, it always grows."

"Do you have a garden? Do you grow stuff?". Lovino was intrigued now.

"Yes, my block of flats has a back yard and there's an equivalent little space for my apartment" she told him. "I grow flowers, but I'd rather grow things that I can eat."

"Why don't you, then?"

"The other residents that have access would steal them; They already steal my flowers sometimes. Besides, New York is too cold for the juicy tomatoes I've always wanted to grow."

Lovino's golden eyes widened at that. "Bella ragazza!" he randomly admired her and guided her jaw upwards with his hand and kissed her, not giving a damn about the presence of their company.

Francis' knowing laugh didn't annoy _ enough to not kiss the Italian back.

The rest of the breakfast was spent more or less the same, the four friends would chat and get to know each other and occationally, the young woman and her Italian love interest would share a quick kiss.

After they were done with their food, the little group of friends dissolved and _ and Alfred went straight to shop for clothes in the small mall of the ship.

"So, girlfriend," the American asked, playfully pretending to be offended, "since when are you keeping secrets from me?"

"Now, why would you say that?" the young woman replied with an as playful smirk. "Wasn't I always telling you everything?"

"I thought so, up until today. But, I can't believe that "Mr. Vargas" just randomly kissed you!" Alfred told her. "And what are we looking for here anyway?" he asked, confused, pushing some hangers away. "I honestly think you've packed more than enough clothes!"

"First of all, we kissed yesterday afternoon for the first time-"

Alfred's jaw dropped. "Giiiiiiiiiiiiirl!" he whined. "Why didn't you tell me anything?"

"Secondly, I'll tell you every detail about it while we shop-"

"You better!"

"And lastly, we're looking for a hot dress for tonight 'cause I don't have something sexy enough. To go dancing. At Ibiza. With smoking hot "Mr. Vargas"!"

"Okay," the American agreed, smiling naughtily, "just make sure to not wear high heals!"

"Fuck off!"

Alfred burst in shameless laughter.

* * *

Sleeping after lunch was an essential considering the amound of food Alfred ate again. _ agreed, a little nap before going dancing would only do good for her skin and rest her body. Her sleep was peaceful, but when the alarm went off, she cursed because it had woken her up just as Lovino was about to kiss her.

The young woman got up, nudged Alfred who was sleeping on the upper bunk bed awake, and started getting ready for the night.

The quartet of friends met on the main deck as was beforehand arranged and watched their ship enter the port of Eivissa. After the cruise ship was securely tied down, her passengers could, finally, abandon her and a swarm of impatient tourists filled the port in an instant. As most of the other voyagers did, the small company of friends headed on foot towards Dalt Vila, the old town of Ibiza.

The cobblestone streets and the beautiful, picturesque buildings were creating a romantic atmosphere that was further accentuated by the dusk and _ couldn't help herself from holding Lovino's hand. She instantly felt embarassed and she would retrieve her hand at once, if Lovino wasn't already holding it tight.

They entered the defensive wall of the 3000 year old city and slowly, the river of people started dissolving around them, as each group would head down a different alley. They, too, walked around the quaint old town and after that, they headed towards the Castle.

_ thanked her lucky stars inside her head more than once for taking Alfred's advise to wear flat shoes, because the Castle was built on the peak of a high hill making it quite tiring to visit. She was also greatful for the light breeze and for the fact that it was night by now, helping her cool off and not ruin her brand new dress before it would have serve its purpose.

The Castle was as imposing and big as a castle should be, all made of stone. The spectacular view of the sea and Eixample, the modern part of the town, that the Castle offered made up more than enough for the demanding ascend.

Later, the quartet of friends walked back to the port, but instead of climbing aboard the cruise ship, they headed towards the marina. There, across the moorings for the pleasure yachts, was a series of lounge cafes and night clubs. The little group of friends chose a night club almost randomly and went in with their minds set to spend the night dancing.

As soon as they entered, Alfred headed straight to the middle of the dance floor, dancing like crazy and laughing like there was no tomorrow. His wild moves didn't go unnoticed and a little circle was formed around him by the clapping crowd simply because Alfred... got it bigtime!

Francis, in the pretext of getting a drink, left the couple alone and headed for the bar while thoroughly checking out every single person that passed him by.

The music was loud, not permitting much conversation. _ was fine with that: She prefered body language for tonight.

Lovino smiled at the young woman. "Wanna dance?"

"Suuuuure!"

The couple headed to a corner of the dance floor and let their bodies be driven by the music. They started innocently, dancing at a respectable distance, but as time went by and with the pretext of alcohol, they ended up dancing close, as close as possible, with their bodies stuck on each other and constantly french kissing.

Pretty soon, not much dancing was happening and they were just snogging and feeling each other up and _ dragged the Italian at a close by booth, so they can be a little more comfortable and private.

Their making out was getting deeper and their hands were now all over each other's bodies. "Bella," Lovino breathed among kisses, "you're killing me!"

_ chuckled and doubled her attacks and the pair was soon a panting mess.

Things were getting unbearably hot, and just as Lovino was thinking that if the atmosphere was getting any heavier he wouldn't be able to stop himself, a loud cough was heard over their heads. The two unwillingly parted to find Alfred standing next to them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," he said, "but Francis and I will get back to the ship. Feel free to stay if you want to!"

The duo looked at each other momentarily and then turned to Alfred. "We'll stay!" they declared with certainty.

"Okay," the American shrugged, "just don't forget the ship sails at four" he reminded them. "Have fun!" he winked and turned to leave.

As soon as Alfred was away, _ and Lovino at once picked up from where they had left off. It was only a matter of seconds for the atmosphere to become again hot, steamy and bothersome.

Lips locking, hands wondering and bodies glued together had the couple decide to hasten their departure. Finding the will to part was hard, but somehow they managed. They reluctantly got up from the couch and, still dizzy, exited the night club.

The night breeze little helped them cool off. _, in a haste to be with Lovino away from public eyes, started dragging him by his hand towards the ship.

But, only for a few meters. Lovino soon stopped and pulled _ back, forcing her to turn around and crush chest-to-chest on him.

His eyes were screaming his fire and she, seeing that, caressed his cheek.

And then, she snaked her arms around the Italian's neck, abandoning a part of her weight on his shoulders, hanging from him. Lovino tangled his fingers in her hair, supporting her head, and leaned to kiss her deeply.

The young woman was breathless when the kiss ended and hugged her lover tightly.

She had drunk, but not that much to not notice over the Italian's shoulder, the usual Japanese man following them from a safe distance. When he saw her looking at him, he bent down to tie his shoelaces, hiding his face. She scrunched her eyebrows confused now, a little afraid even, but said nothing.

She let Lovino free and smiled at him. Circling her hand around his arm, she nudged him just enough to start walking again. After a few steps, she looked back. The Japanese man wasn't there anymore. She wondered where he could have gone.

She would have holded Lovino's hand, if suddenly, an unknown, tall, bulky figure with a big pocketknife hadn't appeared in front of them.

"You! Gimme your wallet! And don't try anything stupid to impress the bitch!" he threatened Lovino, while waving his weapon towards the two. "And you, bitch," he told _ now, "gimme your purse!"

_ instinctively raised her hands in surrender and the Italian copied her, even though he could tell they were dealing with a mere, poor, petty thief. "Okay," Lovino said, acting intimidated, "I'll give you my wallet. Calm down!"

"Quickly, you asshole!"

The Italian slowly started bringing his hand towards his inner pocket and, in a flash, kicked the blade out of the thief's hand. Lovino was punching his face before the other could even realize he wasn't holding the knife anymore.

The two men clashed ferociously and fell down on each other and the fist fight was hard and bloody. _ screamed in fear and started looking around to find the fallen pocketknife to help.

Unfortunately, it was too dark for her to see it and also the fight seemed too balanced. Lovino was more skilled and had a swift, professional technique, but the other was way larger and more muscly. They were rolling around on the asphalt, battling for control and neither seemed to have an advantage.

After what seemed like aeons but was only a few minutes, the little Italian straddled the petty thief and hit him hard in the face with his elbow. The other was instantly unconscious.

Lovino stood up, panting, and wiped his clothes from the dust. "Thanks for the help!" he yelled, sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, Lovino!" _ instantly apologized, running to him. "I was trying to help; I was looking for his knife! But, it's too dark and-"

"I wasn't talking about you, bella" he reassured her, among quick breaths. "Don't worry"

_ furrowed her eyebrows and looked around. "But, to whom then?"

"To whoever man is around and-" Lovino cut himself off, when he too saw that the wider area was empty of people except for themselves and the lying thief. "Fuck! No-one is"

_ just nodded in understanding.

"Let's go, bella. I don't know for how long I've knocked him out" Lovino said. "And I don't want anymore unpleasant surprises."

_ smiled, agreeing, and the two quickly headed back to the ship.

"Wow! You were like a pro back there!" _ admired when they were on board and she was feeling safe again. "He was so much larger, yet you managed to impose yourself on him!" she said, eyes sparkling. "Your maneuvers were so quick! He didn't even have enough time to see the blows you were giving him!"

The Italian was all the while smirking cockily.

"Wow! How did you do that?" she finally asked.

"Eeehr..." Lovino flushed for a moment, "When I was little, I was an athlete of Greco-Roman wrestling..." he answered and added as an afterthought: "Yeah"

"You are full of surprises!" she praised again. "Unbelievable!" she said, shaking her head in admiration.

The Italian did an "it's nothing" gesture, but was unable to stop his proud smile.

But, after this whole incident, any romantic atmosphere was of course forgotten; _ was still too shocked and Lovino was too physically tired.

So, the couple just said their "goodnights" and headed to their respective rooms.

* * *

A/N1: The role distribution of this fic is based on user XRC's comment under this YouTube video: watch?v=8sCDmasEAq8.

Since I don't have a YouTube account, could someone do me a favour and let the commenters in the thread know about this fic and give them the link, please?

A/N2: This fanfic is turning into a tourist guide!


	4. Chapter 4

**Mafia!Romano X Reader ~ The Love Boat Ch.4**

 **Ibiza (Spain) → Roses (Spain)**

The phone on his bedside table rang and Lovino reached out and fumbled around for it without opening his eyes. "Pronto" he urged in the usual italian way the caller to talk.

There was a small pause and then, "Yes, bastard," he said, "you woke me, but I'm listening...". His voice was gruffier than usual because of the sleep. Lovino rolled on his stomach and buried his head under his pillow so that the sunlight from the porthole wouldn't break through his still closed eyelids. "Are you sure?" he asked, "...Perfect. That's perfect". Another pause. "It's nice to hear that... Okay, gotta go" he told the caller, "Don't wake me next time, bastard! Ciao".

Lovino hung up and, finally, opened his eyes to check the time on the phone screen. The sudden strong light blinded him and he shut one eye completely. He cursed; It was time to get up.

The Italian resurfaced his head from under his pillow and crawled out of his bed with difficulty. He hated mornings. He was a man of the night, dammit!

Lovino walked to the other end of his suite room – which was still a tiny ass one, if you asked him – and knocked on the wall.

The next thing he did was to go to the bathroom and relieve himself, keeping the bathroom divider open. He had washed his hands and his face when a knock on the door was heard along with Francis' voice: "C'est moi".

He got out of the bathroom and opened the door. The Frenchman stepped in and Lovino closed the door behind him.

Looking at the blond, Lovino wondered how he always managed to look so impeccable, stylish and fully alert, so early in the morning.

"What did you want to tell me?" Francis inquired, a little suspiciously.

"Nothing bad happened" the Italian assured his friend. "Gilbert just called. The bastard woke me up, but at least he had good news. He said Antonio is as good as free"

"Oh!" Francis gasped. "He will avoid conviction?" he asked. "Mon Dieu! What a relief!"

"Yeap, your friend did his magic again. He found a window to the law and also the judge of Antonio's trial became known; she is rotten to the core. We'll just grease her palm and that's it" he answered. "And we've already manipulated the public opinion with Arthur's articles. The dumbass will be declared innocent" Lovino informed the Frenchman, while putting on a button-up.

"Are we sure?"

"Yeah" he answered while raising momentarily his eyebrows for emphasis.

"Thank God!" Francis said. "If he got convicted, it could put us all in great trouble! And I can't get into jail; I'm too refined and aristocratic for that!"

Lovino just sighed and proceeded in getting dressed. He took his trousers and stood in front of the full-body mirror. While putting them on, he contemplated on whether or not he should speak to his friend. He closed the zipper and buckled the button. He run his hands through his hair, sighing again, deeply this time. "Francis," he said, "I'm in love."

The Frenchman gave his usual, teasing laugh.

* * *

Breakfast was served on a buffet, so Alfred, taking advantage of the fact, made a tower on his plate. He had developed a "bulletproof" technique to carry as much stuff as he would like in one go, without dropping anything.

First was the stack of omelets, then were the slices of various toast breads, over those, as much ham and cheese he would need to stuff his stomach after the hours of starvation sleeping for the night always inflicted on him and, finally, on top of every flat surface left, as many little croisants as possible. The boiled eggs and the numerous individual packs of chocolate spread, butter and jam were carried in his pockets.

That day, the kitchen had run out of chocolate milk before the four friends made it to the restaurant. Alfred didn't even flinch. He just chose the biggest cup available and filled it with warm milk, almost finishing it, not giving a damn about those who wanted a little warm milk for their coffee or tea. Afterwards, he sat in his seat – as was tradition by now, next to Francis and across _ – took out two chocolate spread packs and emptied them in his cup. A little stirring did the trick.

_ was long ago used to the eating habits of her best friend, Lovino was not surprised anymore, but Francis, even though he had more than enough times witnessed Alfred devour food as if he were pregnant to triplets, couldn't help himself from shaking his head in a mixture of wonder and disapproval. "You will burst, mon ami!"

"Don't worry," Alfred's mouth was so full, the others could barely make out the obscured words, "I'm fine!" he said and hit his chest with his hand for emphasis. After a few more laborious chews, he drunk a little milk to help himself swallow. "Besides, we're gonna have late lunch today; I have to eat for that too!"

Francis didn't reply. He just sipped his coffee as elegantly as he could.

"So, _ told me what happened yesterday" the American told Lovino. "She said that a bulky criminal attacked you and that you managed to knock him out on your own" Alfred gave the Italian a thumps-up. "Great job, man!"

Lovino did a dismissive gesture. "It's alright."

"_ was stunned, I swear!" Alfred informed the Italian, "she was "Lovino this" and "Lovino that" and told me what exactly happened with every little detail" he laughed out loud, "after she woke me of course, 'cause obviously she couldn't wait 'till morning."

"Okay, Alfred," _ said annoyed, "thank you!"

"I mean she was totally wow-ed" Alfred went on, unfazed. "She was "he was amazing and awesome and, Alfred, you had to be there to see it yourself!" " the American immitated his best friend and cackled.

_ blushed. " _Thank you_ , Alfred!"

The American pretended to wipe a happy tear from the side of his eye. "Oh, man! So funny!" he said. It was so easy to mess with her!

Lovino just smiled.

Breakfast time flew by for the quartet of friends with numerous shenanigans from Francis, plenty of eating from Alfred and a few quick pecks from _ and Lovino.

Later, the four friends went for a big walk on the main deck of the ship to loaf around, gazing at the green coastline of Spain.

* * *

It was a little after four when the ship entered the gulf of Roses. The cruise boat was gliding on the calm waters with an almost artistic way, like a figure skater on ice. The coasts of Spain were now close and the passengers could make out the beautiful beaches that would entertain them for a few hours.

The biggest port in the gulf was the one of Roses village, but this too, was too small to accommodate the big cruise ship. So, instead, the ship dropped its anchor away from shore, in the open sea.

The port was beforehand informed for the arrival of the cruise ship and quickly sent a swarm of smaller boats to surround it and facilitate the passengers to get to the shore.

The cruise ship rolled down its door, not completely, just enough for it to be parallel to the surface of the sea and serve as a platform for the people to walk on. A big part of the crew was already gathered there, making sure that everything would go according to plan and no more than ten people at any given moment would be walking on the door, burdening its hinges more than what was allowed by the safety measures.

One by one, the small boats approached the opening of the ship and slowly, the passengers started getting on them.

The three of the small gang of friends, dressed in what could only be defined as "beachwear", waited patiently for their turn to come and, finally, after some considerable trouble and discomfort, they made it to the shore.

_ couldn't wait to see what Lovino's torso looked like under his T-shirt. His legs, very much exposed by his short swimsuit, were damn fine! Not too muscly nor too thin and he definitely didn't have the most common men's problem; he didn't seem like he was riding a horse all the time. His bum seemed first-rate, too!

Alfred had chosen a similar to Lovino's attire and _ herself was wearing a simple, floral dress over her trikini.

Only Francis was missing. He had decided to stay back on board, saying that he wasn't interested in swimming because that would only harden his hair and give him an old-fashioned, nowadays, tan. _ wondered if that was the truth or if he had simply forgotten to pack a swimsuit.

When the rest three got on shore, they instantly started walking towards the beaches, trying to find a space with shadow. The plan was to spend most of the "off board" time in front of the sea; they didn't want to get sunburned.

They found a nice spot and Alfred instantly took off his glasses, T-shirt and flip-flops and run like a crazy man to the sea, leaving to the other two the task of spreading out the towels on the pebbles.

Before sitting down, _ took off her beach dress and revealed her body and also her intricate bathing suit.

Lovino made no effort to hide that he was ogling her from head to toe and back up. "I really wonder what kind of tan marks this swimsuit will leave on you" he told her, smirking. "I'll make sure to be there when you take it off"

_ smiled smugly at the man and gave him a bottle of sunscreen. "Will you help me, please?" she asked and turned her back to him.

Lovino, ignoring her, hugged her from behind and nuzzled the side of her neck. He, then, guided her head with his hand on her cheek and they french kissed over her shoulder.

Only after the kiss had ended, the flirty Italian did what she had asked for. But, he took his sweet time applying the sun cream, massaging again and again the whole of her back, her hips and sides. "Here!" he grinned, after he felt sated with molesting her, and handed her the bottle. He, then, took off his T-shirt and sat down on the towel.

_ started applying cream on her face, frontal side, arms and legs, and took the opportunity to discreetly study the Italian's body. She was glad to see that it was exactly what she expected, exactly what she hoped it would be; Lean stomach, defined lines of abdominal and chest muscles without overdoing it and strong shoulders giving him a nice, fit look. Just perfect!

She sat behind him and asked: "Don't you want some sunscreen as well?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, okay"

"Gimme your hand"

Confused, he raised his hand and she left a small amount of the content of the bottle in his palm. "For your front" she said.

She proceeded in applying the sun cream on his back, shoulders and upper arms as Lovino was doing the same thing on his face and torso. And then, they sat side by side, waiting for the sunscreen to be absorbed.

It didn't get absorbed, though. Most of it was smeared on the towel when they laid themselves down during a session of extreme making out. When they winded down, _'s heart fluttered when she saw Lovino smiling genuinely at her.

They got up and walked to the sea and swam to where Alfred was.

"Where the hell were you?" Alfred complained. "I was about to leave!"

"What? No, don't leave!" the young woman begged. "We just got here!"

"Okay, but I won't stay for much longer"

The three friends swam around and played in the water for a while, each trying to sink the other two. _ laughed. 'This is fun!' she thought.

"Oh, man, this was awesome!" Alfred said. "But, I'll go now, guys"

"Will you dry off and get back to the ship?" _ asked.

"I'll dry off and go to this tavern," Alfred pointed towards the shore, "to eat. All this swimming tired me out! I must have burned at least a thousand calories!" he said. "I deserve to treat myself!"

_ chuckled. "Okay," she told him, "maybe we'll join you later!"

"But, if you don't, I'm not gonna stick around and wait. Just sayin'!"

"Sure!" she encouraged him, "Maybe we'll join you, maybe we won't. Just do your thing and maybe we'll catch up with you, okay?"

Alfred only nodded, kind of bummed because he already knew they wouldn't.

The American swam away and the remaining two started playing around again, having fun and enjoying the cool water.

_ quickly found out that Lovino enjoyed diving underwater and wandering around in the deep. She accompanied him once or twice, but no more: The waters there were freezing cold.

At a point, he resurfaced and exclaimed: "It's a great sight!"

Remembering what she saw when she was down there, she instantly agreed. "Oh, yes, everything's so blue!"

"Nah, I wasn't talking about that" he replied. "I was referring to a pair of killer legs I saw while ascending!"

She splashed him, but was unable to hold back a smile. When all the drops had landed and the surface was calm again, she slowly inched closer to him, a naughty grin growing on her lips. Lovino reached out to catch her, but she instantly pulled back, laughing.

"Oh, that's how it goes now, eh?" he smirked.

"Holly fuck, a shark!" she said, looking straight at him. "Don't bite me, Mr. shark! Please, have mercy on me!" she kept on teasing, swimming away.

"I'll bite you alright!" Lovino grinned, going after her. "I'll bite you and I'll eat you up!"

The young man was an average swimmer for Italy, but still better than the woman teasing him. He purposely kept the distance steady for a while, not wanting their game to end quickly.

But, finally, he caught up to her and grabbed her ankle. "I'm not letting you go, now!" he declared. " _You_ are my lunch for today!". She squealed as he yanked her and hugged her tightly, trapping her in his arms.

They had a moment, sweetly smiling and staring into each other's eyes. And they kissed.

The simple kiss quickly escalated to a deep and full of passion one and _'s hands wondered all over the Italian's body and snaked inside his swimsuit, giving him the green light to do the same.

But, before he got to explore any intimate part of hers, she pulled away. "We need to go dry" she said and swam off.

The Italian sighed in frustration, but followed her nonetheless. He was swimming slowly though, because he couldn't get out of the water immediately anyway; he had to wait for his problem to wind down.

When he sat down beside her, she had already majorly dried up, being snuggled up in her towel. He claimed her lips in a quick peck.

"It's such a beautiful sea this one!" she admired. "It was the most pleasant swim I've ever had!"

Lovino tsked. "Wait till you see Italy!"

"Really?! It's better?!" she asked, staring at him with wide eyes. "How much better could it get?!"

"A lot better!" he replied without any doubt. "Spain's beaches are meh..." he said and quickly added: "Well, not "meh", but they don't compare to Italy's!"

She smiled. "Wow! Now I'm excited! I'll make sure to swim again when we get to Pisa."

"Pisa?!". It was him that was unbelieving now. "No, you will swim in _Southern_ Italy. _That's_ where all the best beaches of the _whole world_ are!" he told her, almost offended. "When we will be in Rome, we'll just take the car and go to a different beach everyday. And always towards the south!"

"You're making me jealous now"

"Why be jealous? I swear I'll take you there!" a beaming Lovino promised. "If you see Amalfi... It's gonna be a long drive, but you'll go bananas!"

Seeing his enthusiasm, _ felt very sad. In an effort to avoid his happy eyes, she started pushing pebbles around with a tiny stick of wood that she found lying next to her. "No, you're making me jealous because we won't have time to swim there too. Alfred and I will fly back to New York almost immediately after we reach Rome"

Lovino's smile fell. "What do you mean by "almost immerdiately"?"

She sighed. "I mean, we reach Rome Sunday night and we have to be at the airport by five in the morning of Monday"

The Italian tightened his lips, seemingly thinking, but in his mind he was only cursing his luck. "And you can't stay any longer?"

"Well, the plane tickets are already bought..." she replied, still playing with the pebbles. "And we don't have the necessary money..."

"For what?"

"For the hotel and our expenses..." she trailed, timidly.

"Screw the hotels! You'll stay at my place! You don't have to worry about anything!" Lovino exclaimed. "We'll eat every time at my restaurants or it will be my treat – I was thinking of proposing this anyway. I'll take care of everything!"

_ raised her head and gave him a grimace of doubt. "Still... Alfred can't stay; Ivan will be upset"

"Seriously, this sounds even better!" he teased.

_ playfully slapped his shoulder. She scolded him, "don't say such things!", but was smiling.

There was a pause and then, he asked: "So? Will you stay?"

She took a deep breath. "Well, I do have one more week off from work..." she reasoned. "Give me some time to think about it..."

"I'll buy you another plane ticket, if that's what stopping you – first class!"

"No, you don't have to; I can buy this on my own..." she replied. "Just... Let me think about it..."

He felt very disappointed, but he decided that it wouldn't be a good strategy to pressure her any more. "Okay, take your time"

She turned to look back at the pebbles and started playing around with them again."If I stay... Will I get to meet your friends and family?"

"No," he replied, "you'll meet some of my friends – you've already met my bastard of a cousin – but no-one from my close family. My parents died when I was little and it was basically my grandpa that raised me and my brother" he told her.

"I'm sorry..."

"I was three when they died, I don't remember them at all" he said. "If it weren't for the photos, I wouldn't know what they looked like..."

"And your brother and your grandfather...?" she asked warily.

He shrugged with indifference, but his face was sad. "My grandpa passed away two years ago"

"You must really miss him..."

"My grandpa...", he paused for a moment, "he was a good grandfather, don't get me wrong, but...", he took a deep breath, "But, I just wish he wasn't so obviously preferring my brother over me"

"Let me guess. Of the two of you, he was the one that looked like him the most"

Lovino gawked at her.

"It's always like this" she explained, seeing his expression. " _Always_ "

Her answer wasn't good enough for the young man. "How did you know?"

"I told you; It's _always_ like this" she repeated. "The mothers _always_ prefer the first born over the rest, the fathers _always_ prefer the kid that has the character closest to theirs and the grandparents _always_ prefer the grandkid that looks like them the most" she said. " _Always_! _All_ the fucking time! It's basic psychology! Ask _any_ psychologist you want!"

Lovino looked down and fell silent.

_ realized that her personal problems had just bubbled up, making her be more stiff than needed to Lovino, maybe even aggressive, and she tried to sweeten up. "So, you see? It wasn't your fault!" she encouraged him. "I would know, I've been there too!"

He turned to look at her again and his eyes were pleading for her to elaborate.

She took a deep breath. This would take a while. "I have a brother; He is older than me – Thankfully I have no other sibling" she stated, "I am the good kid; I'm the one who studied and is now independent and always made my family proud, whereas my brother is bad news and he's always in trouble – I'll tell you details some other time, but trust me when I say that every now and then, we have a family emergency because of something happening to him that _he_ caused to himself."

Lovino raised his eyebrows at this.

The young woman took another deep breath. "But no matter what, he was – and still is – my mom's favourite. It doesn't matter what he has done; my mom will always forgive him right away. And it's okay, I mean, parents are supposed to forgive their kids, right?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. "But, the thing is, she has never shown the same leniency to me. I must always try harder and do better and get a better job and wear nicer clothes and get better friends and a better boyfriend, and, and, and... While for my mom, my brother is perfect just the way he is. And I'm sick and tired of this."

Lovino cleared his throat. It was his turn. "My grandpa was like that. No matter what I did, Feliciano always did better. At first, I thought it was because he was the youngest and grandpa was feeling sorry he didn't get to know our parents at all. I mean, I too had spent very little time with them, but my brother was only five months old... It took me years to realize that Feliciano was simply his favourite. He would praise him and coo at him all the time. And I was fine with that because he still was a good grandpa" he said and added: "Okay, I wasn't his favourite, but he still loved me and approved of me too, I guess... Especially if you think that I was the one who took over the business when he got old"

Just as _ thought he was done, Lovino went on, suddenly raising his voice in resentment: "But, _that's_ what annoys me the most. I didn't want to take over the business. Neither I nor Feliciano wanted to; We both wanted to go to university, study something useful, but nope! When I finished school my grandpa ordered that we would take control of the business. So, once more unable to change his mind, I started helping him and getting to know the job and when Feliciano finishes school three years later, he asks ONCE" an angry Lovino emphasized the number by abruptly raising his index finger to sign it, "to be dismissed from the burden and go study and my grandpa is all like: "Suuuuuuure! Whatever my favourite grandkid waaaaaants!". Well I say, FUCK HIM!", he took a quick breath and corrected himself: "FUCK THEM BOTH!"

It was more than obvious that this was a more than sensitive subject for Lovino. In under a minute, he had gone from talking calmly to yelling in fury.

_ was feeling for him, she could relate. Not knowing what to do, she just hugged him and buried her head in the crook of his neck.

She expected that he wouldn't react, that he would simply let her hug him, but he hugged her back and pecked on her hair. "Thanks, ragazza" he said and, after a small pause, he added: "It's not that bad, really..." he assured her in an effort to lighten the spirits. "Don't get me wrong, bella: I like my job and I'm proud I'm good at it, it's just that I would rather do something else... Okay?"

She broke the embrace and nodded.

They kissed and this kiss was different; even though it was salty, it was the sweetest so far.

But, the Italian still felt uneasy, knowing he had over-exposed himself. Trying to not let _ feel sorry for him, he changed the subject: "We're dry enough now. Do you think Alfred will still be at the tavern?"

"I doubt it" she said. "He must have already ate his second filling and now is probably back on the ship. Besides, I don't wanna leeeeeeeave!" she whined all of a sudden, "I like it heeeere~!"

Lovino smiled. "Whatever my pretty ragazza wants!" he agreed and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "We have plenty of time anyway"

_ turned the tips of her mouth downwards in a comical sad expression. "But, I'm hungry"

He grinned at her silliness, but shrugged, not knowing what she expected him to say or do.

She reached out for her beach bag, placed it on her lap and took something out of it. "I'll be back" she told him, winking, and got up to leave. Lovino just watched her walking away.

She returned quite some time later with two big sandwitches wrapped in aluminum foil and two small bottles of cold, mineral water. "That canteen sure is expensive!" she said as she gave him his bottle.

"This is a tourists' place. What did you expect?" he chuckled and downed his water. His smile was instantly erased when he saw who were about to abandon the beach and were now approaching to greet them.

Two tall men – the one a giant in comparison to him – came close to them. "WOWZA, _!" the blond Dane admired. "I saw you from afar, walking, and DAMN you look good!"

Lovino was greatly annoyed to see _ get up, after she had just sat down.

"Oh, Mark, thanks so much~! You get my spirits up everytime I see you!" she grinned. "You look really good too!"

The wild-haired man took a turn around his axis. "Don't I? Eh?" he asked, showing himself off, waiting for her to confirm.

Big, square shoulders and muscles all over the place, even his back was ripped. His torso was a perfect, upside down trapezium.

Lovino felt a great pang of jealousy when _ answered: "Yes, you do! You most definately do!"

"I'm no "look, but don't touch" policy, you know! You can as well touch!" Mark told her, doing a gesture that pointed towards his abs. "Touch me!"

She was extremely curious, but her upbringing dictated to deny the offer. "No, it's okay" she said while Lukas was simultaneously interjecting: "You're being rude again, Mark"

"Nonsense!" the Dane replied. "Who wouldn't wanna touch _this_?" he asked while repeating the previous gesture and then, grabbed _'s wrist and guided her palm on his stomach.

The Italian froze in fear and the blood was instantly drained from his face. He gulped with difficulty.

_ had to admit she had never touched such strong abdominal muscles before and couldn't help from sliding her palm on his skin. She tried to not blurt out the first thing that came to her mind, but it was too late: "I now know why that expression exists..."

"What expression?"

"Never mind" she said, quickly pulling her hand back when realization of what she had just done hit her.

Mark was persistant. "What expression?" he asked again. "Come on, _, tell meeeeee!" he whined. "What expression?"

She gave up. "The expression: "You can grate cheese on this man's abs"!"

"Awesome compliment! Thank you! I adore you!" he grinned.

"Yes, you should be called "the _Grate_ Dane"!"

Lovino was now angry.

"Hahahahaha" Mark laughed. "You're hilariou- Hey, why are we leaving?" he turned to ask his husband that was forcefully dragging him away by his arm. "I was having fun!"

A dark aura was emanating from Lukas. "Shut up _or_..."

"Okay! Okay!" the wild-haired man screamed, surrendering.

_ sat back down to find that the Italian was furious. Of course, he didn't say anything and was acting as normal as he could, but his face betrayed him by being ablaze.

For the first time in her life, _ thought that seeing the other jealous was a major turn on. Oh, she enjoyed this so much~!

She held Lovino's jaw and guided his face to look at her and kissed him hard, shoving her tongue in his mouth.

The Italian was surprised and still pissed, but gave in.

They had to break the kiss for air and she smiled at him. She quickly pecked his lips once and, then, unwrapped their sandwitches. She gave him one. "Here you go"

They ate and talked, getting to know each other more while the waters in front of them were slowly getting darker because of the descending sun.

She checked the time on her phone screen. "We should go. It's almost nine"

"We still have plenty of time" he disagreed.

"Yes, but we have to walk all the way back and don't get me started on how we'll get back on the ship"

Lovino got up, sighing, and put on his shirt.

It was a headache to get back to the ship. After they reached to the harbor, they had to ask about the serving boats every single person there to, finally, get the vaguest of answers: "Just wait over there and someone will come"

So, they just stood there and as they waited, a few more passengers joined them. _ and Lovino were tired and thirsty and were mentally thanking God the sun had set. Eventually, a little speedboat approached and took everyone in.

The inflatable was quickly riding the waves, bouncing, and upsetting everyone's stomachs. When they were, finally, on board they headed straight to a bar to buy water.

"Wanna go eat now?" he asked her.

She shook her head.

"Wanna come to my cabin?"

She nodded with a giggle, her eyes sparkling.

Soon, Lovino was closing the door behind them and turned to help her undress. "I told you I'd be there when you'd take it off" he smirked among kisses.

As she pushed him to lie down on his bed and fell on top of him, Lovino didn't need anything more to completely dismiss everything concerning a swollen, bleached, super annoying Dane.

* * *

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to every girl who's single and reading it, helped her feel a little less lonely today.

Happy Valentine's day!


	5. Chapter 5

**Mafia!Romano X Reader ~ The Love Boat Ch.5**

 **Roses (Spain) → Monaco (Monaco)**

_ felt her conciousness coming back to her and smiled. Without opening her eyes she streched her arm to touch Lovino only to find that the space next to her was empty. She sat up and looked around the room for him.

Sure enough, he was there, sitting back in a chair with his feet on the desk and had a small notepad on his lap, seemingly doodling. "Buongiorno, bella!" he smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes" she nodded, beaming, and just watched him for a while, curious. Was Lovino sketching?

She wrapped the white sheet around her body, got up and hobbled towards him, the edges of the covers sweeping the floor.

Lovino saw that and made a mental note to change his top sheet. "I've already seen you, you know" he said without raising his eyes from his work. "So, why are you hiding?"

"Why are you dressed?" she asked back.

"It's different" he shrugged.

She was behind him now and leaned to wrap her arms around his shoulders, careful to not bother his right hand. Looking at his drawings, she asked: "How is it different?"

"I'm a man" he simply answered without stopping sketching.

She nuzzled his hair behind his ear and kissed his cheek and again, turned to look at his work. "Isn't that unfair?"

He corrected a line with an eraser. "Maybe it is, but I still want to see you"

She chuckled. "Alright" she said and un-hugged Lovino. She looked around the room. "Where are my clothes?"

"I put them in the closet"

_ took her bathing suit and beach dress and placed them on the bed. She, then, let the sheet drop. Lovino, finally, stopped drawing and raised his eyes from his paper.

She had decided to offer him a show and therefore, even though her heart was beating furiously from embarassment, she took her sweet time to dress and sometimes even posed. When she was done, he was in a trance, and she took advantage of the fact to indirectly ask him: "I didn't know you were the artsy type"

Lovino blinked, waking up from his daze, but was still unprepared. "Eeehr... Yes, eeehr... I like to paint..."

"This isn't painting, that's just sketching" _ objected, pretending she didn't notice his stammer, flushed cheeks and glazed eyes. But, inside she was smirking.

"I like sketching too... Eeehr, I mean painting... I enjoy it more..." he shook his head, in an effort to kick the recent images out of his mind. His hair and curl were whipped along. "I like sketching, but I like painting more" he, finally, said firmly.

"Oh, you like to paint!" she said, excited, trying to get him to talk. As an art conservator, she had great interest in art and specifically in paintings. Not to mention she wanted to know everything about this man. "Will you show me?" she nodded towards Lovino's sketchbook.

Lovino flushed more than before, if possible, but said nothing.

"Come on! I really wanna see!" she urged him. "I bet they're beautiful!"

"I only have doodles here..." he mumbled and surrendered, giving her his sketchbook.

The glee she felt while sitting down on the floor and opening it, reminded her of when she was a child and, having long ago reached the limits of her patience, was tearing the wrapper of her Christmas presents. Yes, she definitely wanted to know everything about this man.

The sketches were cute, but intricate. They showed off vast imagination and more than enough dedication. Studying his curves and lines, she realized Lovino must had a very stready hand. This was a very "handy" feature in almost all kinds of art.

She looked at him, scrunching her eyebrows, confused. These weren't just silly doodles. The man had talent.

"What?" he asked.

She smiled at him. "I like them" she answered, nodding in reassurance. "What about your paintings? Can I see any of those?" she asked. "I mean, since you prefer painting..."

Lovino was embarassed, but realized he couldn't deny anything to those cute eyes that were looking up at him through their lashes. He wanted to talk about this with someone anyway and his "collegues" weren't a safe choice. "Bring me the iPad that's over there" he said, pointing with his finger.

He chuckled to himself when she just got up and followed his order without any nagging or even questioning his manners; He wasn't used to this behaviour without the others knowing of his power and influence.

She fetched him the tablet and sat back down and he turned it on. Brushing the screen with his fingertips he got where he wanted. "Here" he said and gave it back to her.

It was a folder full of photos of paintings. She scrolled one after the other, slowly figuring out his technique, appreciating the vivid colours and feeling the emotions Lovino was sharing. Each was better than the previous. "Lovino, you have talent!" she exclaimed.

He abruptly exhaled a big glob of air, something between an ironic laugh and a tsk.

"I'm not kidding!" _ complained, scrolling through again from the beginning, quickly this time, to evaluate them as a whole now. "You're taking advantage of the rough texture of the canvas, your colours are matching and compliment each other, you have a clear understanding of perspective, your themes are very interesting..." she trailed and looked back at him, standing up. "It takes years to get to this point!"

Lovino didn't answer, he just kept looking away.

"I'm a failed artist and an art conservator, I would know" she said and went on: "Your works remind me a lot of the ones of a very talented Italian painter! He's not very famous yet because he's very recent, but everyone in the art world knows of him. Maybe you've heard of him too. His most famous painting is called: "Wild violets at dusk of a Holy Wednesday beyond piazza San Martin" or something..."

Lovino only turned to look at her.

She made a face of shear what-the-fuckery. "Yeah, except for his talent, he's also famous for the obsurdly long titles he gives to his paintings."

"You mean: "Wild violets at dusk of a Holy Wednesday beyond piazza San _Marco_ " " Lovino corrected her with a sour expression on his face.

"Oh, so, you've heard of him" she said. "How do you remember this train of a title?"

"The artist, Veneziano..." Lovino smiled bitterly, "He's my brother..."

"Veneziano is your brother?!" she was astonished. "You _must_ be kidding me!"

"I'm not" his reply was curt. "My brother's dream was to study Fine Arts in Venice. You see, he got to study what he wanted; I wasn't even given the chance to study anything, let alone what I wanted" a now choleric Lovino said. In a weak moment, he tried to revenge: "He keeps his real name a secret. He told me that he swore to Saint Marco, the patron saint of Venice, that he'll never reveal it. Go ahead and tell everyone that his name is Feliciano Vargas. He will be forced to stop painting and his career will be ruined for ever."

_ smiled sadly, but deep down she was glad. Yes, Lovino was envious of Feliciano and yes, he had a lot of brother issues to work on, but he obviously loved him. If he really wanted the famous artist's real identity to be revealed, he could do it himself. He certainly didn't need anyone's help to expose his own brother. Warily, she asked: "What did _you_ want to study, Lovino?"

Lovino lowered his gaze, embarassed, and mumbled: "Fine Arts..."

* * *

The whole conversation shook _ and didn't know how to handle it. At the same time, Lovino seemed distant, obviously regretting the whole incident. After some awkward minutes, with the excuse that she should check on Alfred, _ left.

She entered her cabin and found her American friend lying on his bed, tapping on his phone screen.

He instantly turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow, annoyed and ironic at the same time. "I'll excuse your yesterday rudeness of ditching me if you have a good gossip. And judging by the time it is and your walk of shame, I bet you have."

"Get down here" she said, smirking.

Alfred didn't need more urging from his friend. He got down from his upper bunk bed and was standing in the middle of their small cabin right away. "I'm listening..." he smirked back.

"Well... To put it simply... " she hesitated, "Yes" she nodded.

"Awesome!" Alfred celebrated by throwing his arms in the air and then, hugging his friend. "I knew it! There _is_ a God! We finally got you laid!" he exclaimed and, at once, released her and asked: "How was he?"

"First of all, _I_ got me laid," _ answered with a pseudo-annoyed look on her face, "and secondly..." her eyes sparkled now and she beamed, "He was amazing!" she cheared, " _Amazing_! He was oh-my-GOD amazing!"

"Congratulations!" a playful Alfred shook her hand vigorously.

"I'm telling you, the expression "In heaven, the lovers are Italian" is not random AT ALL!". _ was smiling like an idiot.  
"Wow!" the American admired. "That good?"

"Yeap!" she nodded with excitement.

"Care to share any details?"

She took a deep, happy breath. "Our timing was perfect, he would caress and kiss me non-stop, he sometimes whispered with his gruff voice italian in my ear – I didn't understand a word, but who cares?" _ sighed dreamily remembering all that. "The best part was that I barely had time to think that I wanted him to do something: As soon as I would think "I hope he'll do this", he just did it!"

"On his _own_?" Alfred asked doubtfully, "Without you straightforward asking for it or subtly letting him know?"

_ just nodded vigorously, beaming.

"Damn, now I wanna try him too!" the American joked.

_ teasingly hit her friend's shoulder, still smiling. And then, she smirked again, "Not to mention the endurance..." she raised a full-of-meaning eyebrow.

Alfred copied his friend's grimace, but in a teasing way. " "Endurance" I hear..."

"When we stopped and went to sleep, it was dawn..."

The American got confused. "How did you know?"

"I saw it through the porthole" _ answered, wondering what kind of question was that, now of all times.

"HE HAS A PORTHOLE? Why don't WE have one?" the American asked, appalled. "That's discrimination! I'll complain to the company!"

"Alfred, FOCUS!" _ ordered her friend. "He has a suite room and that's not the point anyway!"

"Oh, okay, right!" he complied. And then, he returned to the topic at hand: "That long, eh?" he asked without really expecting an answer. "You go, girl!" he gave an "american smile" and two thumbs up.

"Ah," she sighed with sparkling eyes, "it was amazing, Alfred! So amazing!"

"I'm very happy for you!"

Her smile dropped a little, but not completely. "I wish the day after wasn't so weird..."

"Why? What happened?" the American asked worriedly. If he was one of those douchebags that threw out the girls as soon as they'd take what they wanted and treated them like dirt instantly afterwards, he would beat the asshole to the death!

"Everything seemed to go fine, but..." she hesitated, "we had this conversation and, I think he was in a weak moment or something, he told me something very sad about his past that still pains him..." she said. "I mean, it's not bad that he confided in me, but later I was getting the vibe he was feeling very uncomfortable for exposing himself..."

"Well, you've known each other for a very little time" Alfred agreed. "On the other hand, you just had sex, so..."

_ tilted her head. "So?"

"Eh, you're not strangers!" the American replied with an "isn't it obvious?" gesture. "So, did he ask you to leave?"

"No, I left on my own. I didn't know how to console him or what to do..."

Alfred now relaxed by the fact that Lovino hadn't kicked _ out, teased her: "Or _who_ to do..."

The young woman lost all enthusiasm she had left at once. "Oh, shut up!" she ordered seriously.

There was a pause and then, Alfred asked: "So, what's gonna happen now?"

_ shrugged. "We agreed to meet at the top of the escalator at 7. I think he wanted some time alone to save face. We'll see then how things will go."

The American nodded. There was another pause and he asked, tendatively: "_, how do you feel about him?"

_ suddenly gave a painful expression. "I really, _really_ like him..." she said, worriedly. "I think you'll have to pick up my pieces again when we get home..."

Alfred just hugged her.

They stayed like this for a while and then, releasing herself from the bear hug, _ asked: "So, what did you do yesterday after you left us? Was the food at the tavern good? Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, the food was so tasty! I ordered a beef steak and it was tender and awesome – they have very high quality beef there as a tourist told me. Later, I went for a walk around the town and took some pictures that I later send to Ivan when I sat at a small cafe to have some ice-cream. It was a nice walk, I just wish people spoke english!"

"They didn't?" she asked, confused. Up until now, people would speak english very well.

"The place is small and doesn't attract many tourists. The elderly couldn't understand a word! The rest would speak few, broken english."

"So, what?" she asked. "It's not like you had any interest to talk to the locals, right?"

"No, but I wanted to buy a gift for Ivan and communication with the shop-owners was impossible!" he quite loudly complained. "I mean, c'mon! I know your place doesn't attract many tourists, but there are _some_ tourists for crying out loud! It wasn't enough that they were all slothful as if they had just woken up from their siesta, they also didn't speak english!" he lashed out. "Do your fucking job!"

_ gave a smile of amused pity and asked: "Did you manage to buy something in the end?"

"Oh, yes" Alfred calmed down immediately and grabbed his backpack. "I got him this T-shirt and I also got this magnet for our fridge. What do you think?"

The paradise green T-shirt was something Ivan would wear with his favourite jeans for a long time and, after a year or two of constant use, it would turn into a practice shirt as usual. The magnet had apparently the coat of arms of the municipality, three red flowers with a crown over them. On the bottom, it was written: "ROSES, CATALONIA, SPAIN".

_ didn't need to lie about the T-shirt; Alfred had done a wonderful job in picking it. She wondered, though, why Alfred bought the fridge magnet. "The T-shirt is _very_ nice. The colours will suit him and it seems just the right size! The magnet is cute too!"

"Oh, yeah!" Alfred chuckled, "the magnet glows in the dark!"

'Ah, yes...' she thought, now understanding, and asked: "Why?"

Alfred shrugged. "No reason. They just made it!"

_ nodded, smiling. "So, what did you do later? After the ice-cream?"

"Oh, yeah. I got here and took a shower to get rid of all the salt and then got out to get dinner. Luckily, I found Francis at the restaurant. We ate chinese; It was good"

"It sounds you had a nice time. So, no hard feelings for me...?" she asked with big puppy eyes, batting her lashes.

Alfred smiled at the sight. "No hard feelings for you, baby!"

"How's Ivan doing?" she inquired. "Did he like the pictures?"

"Ah, yeah. When I sat at the cafe, I kept myself busy by exchanging messages with Ivan for a while. Thankfully, it was day in the US and he wasn't sleeping. I would send him the pics and write a little something for them and he would comment. Soon, I thought 'What the hell? Why aren't I calling?' so, I just called. He's doing fine, by the way. Thanks for asking!"

"I know you miss him" _ told her friend. "Patience, we'll be back in New York soon!"

"Lol" Alfred said without any sign of amusement. "I'm having the weirdest vacations of my life. On one hand, this voyage has been awesome so far, on the other hand, I wanna be back home as soon as possible" he said. "Sucks!" he concluded, crossing his arms over his chest with a childish pout.

_ just patted his head.

"And then, there's you" Alfred went on, "I wanna go home as soon as possible, but I can't ignore the fact that you want this cruise to last as long as possible!"

She chuckled. "We'll see what's gonna happen with that. Don't feel bad for this; it's not your fault" she said and tried to take her friend's mind away from those things, by changing the subject: "Did you have breakfast today?" she asked. "I didn't!"

"Yeah, I just took a sandwitch and a coffee in hand; I didn't wanna sit alone" he answered. "To be honest, when yesterday the boat sailed away, I was a little afraid that you might have missed it, but Francis assured me that under no circumstances Lovino would miss it. I knew you were with him so, I was good."

_ nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna hit the shower and then, we can do whatever you want!" she said. "See it as an "I'm sorry for ditching you". Whatever you think it'd be fun!"

Alfred's blue eyes twinkled. "Oh, I already know, baby!" he replied with a smug smile.

* * *

"Really?" _ asked mockingly with a disappointed look on her face, while she stood in front of their aisle. "That's what you had in mind?". Bowling was not a favourite activity of hers. Actually, she disliked it a lot.

"Yeah, you don't like bowling, Ivan can't play anyway, the last time I played was three months ago with my collegues. And let me tell you, they totally ruined it for me. Sore losers!"

"But you do one strike after the other! If I had any interest in it, I would be annoyed too!" _ protested and then gave in: "Whatever, I said we'd do whatever you wanted, so I have no right to complain. Let's do this!" she, finally, smiled and pinched her friend's cheek as if he were a baby.

Alfred took a black ball and placed his fingers in it and threw it. The ball rolled smoothly on the wooden floor and crashed against the triangularly placed pins. Strike.

"Perfect" both Alfred and _ said simultaneously, but in a completely different context.

The kept on playing, alternatively throwing balls and eating hot dogs from the bar – it was needed since they had missed lunch.

The game was more or less humiliating for _. She knew in advance she would lose and, as a result, she wasn't even trying.

Fortunately, Alfred didn't notice. "Another strike!" he cheared, "I'm awesome"

The young woman smiled. She may not enjoyed bowling, but she still enjoyed hanging out with her best friend.

The game ended quite quickly – with Alfred making a new high score for the bowling alley of the boat and writing his name with golden letters on the top of the "All-time top 10 scores" board – and, with Alfred smiling like an idiot, the two friends went to relax and take a short nap.

They woke up a little later and went to grab coffees in hand and sweets at the closest to their cabin saloon, and headed back to their room. Loud, upbeat music from their phones, enough caffeine and chocolate, a little conversation and plenty of friendly teasing in this extremely private party, raised their spirits high, while they were getting ready for their outing.

They put on their most expensive, designer clothes – that they had in advance thought to bring along – because this outing would be in the world-famous, super extravagant and luxurious Monaco!

At 7 sharp, they met Francis and Lovino. After the greets, the four friends descended the escalator, and along with the other passengers, flooded the Port Hercule.

The cabs had formed a long line, waiting for voyagers to quartet of friends entered one and ordered the driver to take them to the biggest casino of the tiny country, the "Casino de Monte-Carlo".

_ and Alfred were astonished by the luxury of the place and the wide, clean streets; not a single piece of garbage was littering them. Very soon – only a few blocks later as it turned out – they reached at the famous casino and _ wondered at its structure and the great fountain in front of it. It looked like Vegas, but more elegant and sophisticated. Francis paid the taxi fee and, after they were checked, they were allowed to enter.

High marble ceilings, mahogany tables and what appeared to be only people of the high class – unless some weren't, but were still dressed like them – made Alfred and _ marvel and gulp uncomfortably at the same time.

The two friends had in advance made clear that they wouldn't bet, they would just wander around for starters and later, keep company to the Italian and the French. Francis and Lovino were fine with that and, after the two left to take a stroll inside the building, they sat at the closest poker table.

Alfred and _ gossiped relentlessly at the exaggeration of everything surrounding them: The implausibly expensive clothes, the impossibly intricate hairstyles of the ladies, the astronomically high bets and even tips to the waiters, the over-the-top, fake politeness...  
"Huh..." Alfred was speachless. "I guess it wouldn't be over-exaggerating if we said they're over-doing it"

They kept on walking around and crossed various halls that were filled with tables for roulette, poker, Blackjack, dice... They also found two halls stuffed with slots; these were the most empty.

"I was thinking of playing once or twice on one of those," Alfred nodded towards a fruit machine, "but I changed my mind, now.."

"I see..." _ only answerd. "Well, we've seen all there is. Let's go back find the others"

They were back quickly, just as the poker game was getting "warmed up". They had already played a few rounds.

At the table, along Lovino and Francis, were sitting one woman and two more men, one of them, familiar. 'The Japanese guy!' _ thought astonished.

The croupier was a cute, blonde girl with glasses over her blue eyes and her long side braid was adorned by a red ribbon. "The Big Blind is raised to 200 euros. The Small Blind is raised to 100 euros" she said.

_ had no idea what this meant, but nonetheless, watched Francis and Lovino bet 100 and 200 euros worth chips respectively while the croupier was dealing the cards. The five players checked their cards and evaluated their chances for a few seconds.

The guy on Lovino's left simply placed a 200 chip in front of him.

"I fold" the Japanese man said and gave his cards back, obviously withdawing from this round.

"I'm in" informed the woman and bet accordingly.

A french accented "I'm in too" was then, heard by Francis who placed another 100 worth chip in front of him.

Lovino, who was sitting on Francis' left, just knocked his knuckles on the table.

"The flop" the girl declared and opened three cards in front of her.

Quickly, the unknown man also knocked on the table.

The woman simply said "I check"

Francis took a moment to evaluate the situation. "I raise" he, finally, challenged and added two 100 worth chips to the previous two in front of him.

_ cringed. That was a lot of money for her.

Lovino rubbed his jaw in thought. "I'm in" he said and copied Francis' movement.

_ cringed further.

The man on the Italian's left took a deep breath, thoughtfully. In the end, he gave in: "I'm in"

The woman, hesitated, but also added a 200 chip to her bets in front of her.

The croupier opened one more card.

Again, the same thing happened, the man and the woman checked, Francis raised the bet and Lovino and the unknown two followed.

_ was now feeling very anxious and she was hoping Lovino – or at least Francis – wasn't clueless.

The croupier opened the last card.

The woman checked and Francis checked, but it was Lovino the one to raise the bet this time. The man and woman seemed unsure, but nevertheless, refused to fold their cards. Francis, the one who had been raising the bet all this time, just folded.

_ raised her eyebrows. Francis' cards were obviously bad and he had all along been bluffing.

The three left players opened their cards.

"Full house," the blonde girl said, "the gentleman wins".

The three players gave back to the croupier their cards and, _ wouldn't know who had won, unless Lovino, with the croupier's help, didn't gather the bets and added them to his stack of chips.

_ took a deep breath in relief, realising that this was more than enough stressful only by watching it. 'I hope they know what they're doing!' she prayed silently for her moronic, new friends.

Turns out, they did. As time went by, both Francis and Lovino seemed to be perfectly able to calculate the chances and avoided unnecessary risks. Every time they raised their bets it was, indeed, because either the one or the other had a good hand – at least, whenever they had to reveal it because sometimes the others would just withdraw.

Alfred and _ stayed there, watching and whispering to each other about how the game was evolving. It seemed the woman and the unknown man would lose money to Francis, Lovino and the Japanese guy, but Francis and the Japanese guy would, in turn, lose money to Lovino: The stacks in front of the unknown two were getting smaller, the stacks of the Japanese and the Franchman were staying relatively steady and Lovino's stack was getting taller.

After 30 minutes to an hour – _ wasn't sure because all time telling devices were forbidden inside the casino and anxiety wasn't helpful to properly count the time either – Francis turned to his cousin: "Mon ami, I'm getting poor!"

"And I'm getting hungry!" the Italian agreed. "Let's go!"

The two friends rose from their seats and joined _ and Alfred. After a few exchanged words, they agreed to go get dinner. As they walked towards the exit, they broke in two smaller parties as was tradition by now: Francis and the American were leading the way and, a few steps behind, Lovino and the young woman were following.

"Aren't you a lucky star!" Lovino marveled, "I've never made this much at a casino! Here, this is for you, bella!" he said and offered her a 100 euros worth chip.

"No, I'm sorry, I can't accept it!" _ answered almost offended, pushing his hand.

"Why not?" Lovino asked. "You saw the tips I gave to the croupier and the waiter. It's tradition at casinos, if you win, to tip the croupier at your table, the waiter that served you and whoever brought you luck" he informed her. "Just so you know, I'm not giving it in exchange for anything; you have made it crystal clear to me by now, that you are not this kind of woman" he told her and leaned to whisper in her ear: "We _already_ slept together..."

_ blushed from one ear to the other. "Shut up!" she said, totally embarassed. "I'm not taking it no matter what!"

Lovino just chuckled and playfully kissed her cheek.

The little gang reached at the exit of the casino and Francis and Lovino cashed out their earnings. After they took back their mobiles and personal items, they redeployed and started walking down "Avenue de Monte-Carlo", thusly approaching the port.

"I think I have an admirer on the ship" _ said.

"You hadn't noticed that I admire you up until now?" Lovino asked with a smirk, teasing.

The woman chuckled, flattered. "No, I mean, someone _other_ than you"

The Italian gave a pseudo-worried expression. "Well, that doesn't sound threatening to me at all..." he joked.

_ chuckled again and playfully hit his shoulder.

Lovino remembered a tall, ripped Dane with standing, blond hair. "Whom are you talking about?" he asked, now genuinely worried.

"I don't know, it could be just my imagination, but..." _ paused for a second, smiling, "There's someone stalking me, I think"

The Italian turned to look at her and scrunched his eyebrows. "That sounds unsettling" he said. "Why are you smiling?"

"He seems too shy and most likely doesn't know how to approach me. Nothing dangerous, I'm sure. I don't get the "creep" vibe" she replied. "Besides, I'm with either you or Alfie or both you and Alfie and Francis. Never alone"

Lovino grunted. This still didn't sound safe enough to him and repeated his question: "Who is that guy again?"

"Oh," _ said, "that Japanese guy that was sitting with you at the poker table. He's always on his own and somewhere around if you've noticed"

It was Lovino's turn to chuckle. "Really?" he asked, amused. "Okay, I'll keep an eye out for him from now on"

"Do you think I'm delusional?" she asked, suddenly doubtful. She didn't want Lovino to think that she was trying to show off to him. Teasing him with Mark was more than enough. "I mean, I might be wrong..."

"Oh, I'm sure you're not" he said and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "He'd be blind if he didn't like you!"

The four friends were now walking on "Avenue d'Ostende" and passed in front of "Princess Grace Theatre" where they stopped for a while so that Alfred and _ could take some pictures. A few meters away was a restaurant that Francis thought looked nice and, mentally praying that its prices won't be absurdly high, the American and the young woman reluctantly agreed to go there to eat.

That wasn't the case, though. After seeing the prices, _ momentarily wished she had accepted the damn chip. She looked at Alfred with uncertainty over the menu. He gave her back a just as worried look. They would have to pay by card; their cash wasn't enough! So, they chose the cheapest things on the menu and proceeded in engaging themselves in a pleasant conversation with the other two, while waiting for their food to be brought.

The food was marvelous, but sparse on the plate. All this "haute-cuisine" had really annoyed the two who felt like they'd pay a fortune for just a sniff of food. The young woman and the American looked at each other again and silently communicated that they'd go get snacks and sandwitches from a bar when they'd get back on the ship.

Very quickly, the plates were empty and Lovino asked if anyone was interested in ordering dessert. Everybody replied negatively. Francis was cautious of "his silhouette" and Alfred and _ couldn't afford buying something more, not to mention they wanted to go back to the ship as soon as possible so that they'd actually eat something.

The bill was brought and Lovino strictly insisted that he'd pay it on his own. "I said "no". This one's on me" he told them. "I won a lot at the casino and I wanna treat my friends with my winnings."

No-one resisted much, not even Francis, because he had lost money to Lovino. Finally, after the check was paid, the quartet of friends got up to leave.

They kept on walking down "Avenue d'Ostende" and soon, they found themselves back in Port Hercule. The four friends climbed aboard the cruise ship that would sail away shortly.

After a relevant proposal, _ made clear to Lovino that she'd sleep in her cabin for tonight, something that confused the Italian, but he decided against expressing it. She was a free woman and if she didn't want to sleep with him tonight, then, there was nothing else for him to do but to respect it.

When she and Alfred were again alone, they headed straight to the closest snack bar. They bought a great amount of sandwitches, hot dogs and chips that they took back to their cabin to pig out with, away from judging eyes.

* * *

The role distribution of this fic is based on user XRC's comment under this AWESOME MMD video: watch?v=8sCDmasEAq8. Seriously, YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS!

Since I don't have a YouTube account, could someone do me a favour and let the commenters in the thread know about this fic and give them the link, please? It's been weeks and no comment so far... :(


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